The organisers of the Commonwealth Games 2026, slated to be hosted by Scotland confirmed that the Glasgow edition of the CWG will feature a 10-sport programme.
Badminton, one of the most popular events at the CWG was cut from the program along with other popular sports.
Former India badminton star Parupalli Kashyap opined that it was indeed a strange decision to not include the sport in the programme list and expressed his surprise with the decision.
Kashyap clinched the yellow metal at the 2014 edition of the Games in Glasgow.
“Very strange that this decision has been taken. I don’t know what this decision is. India is one of the biggest Commonwealth nations playing in the event. It’s really unfortunate,” Kashyap said.
“I won the gold in the 2014 Glasgow CWG and it was a full house. So many fans came to watch the match, and there were no seats left. Kind of a very strange decision to put out,” Kashyap added.
India have claimed an impressive 31 medals, including 10 gold, eight silver, and 13 bronze in the badminton event and were set to enter the 2026 event as the defending champions in both the men’s and women’s ingles events.
“I am not able to actually understand it. Badminton is one of the most popular sports in CWG, I would say. In 2014, there was no space in stands available from the quarterfinal onwards,” he added.
Other major sports have also been dropped from the programme including the likes of hockey, shooting, cricket, badminton, wrestling, table tennis and squash citing the circumstances under which the CWG will take place.
Kashyap was left puzzled over the business sense behind the exclusion of sports that would pull in crowds.
“These are the sports where Indians do well. I don’t understand the business decision in this. How does it make commercial sense because these are the popular sports among Indian fans in Glasgow and especially in the UK,” he said.
The 2022 edition in Birmingham had featured 19 sports, where India won 61 medals, including 22 gold.
The Wrestling contingent bagged 12 medals, the weightlifting unit claimed 10 medals, while 8 medals came from the athletics section and the table tennis team, which clinched 7 medals contributed the most to the overall tally.
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