Muristek
Vinayak Padmadeo
New Delhi, April 12
In a big jolt to India, the host of the Commonwealth Games 2026 has dropped wrestling, shooting and archery from its initial sports programme list.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) confirmed Victoria in Australia as the host of the 2026 edition. This would be the first edition to be held across several cities, including Melbourne, Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and Gippsland.
The disciplines that the organising committee has included in the initial list are aquatics, athletics, badminton, boxing, beach volleyball, T20 cricket, cycling, gymnastics, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, rugby sevens, squash, table tennis, triathlon and weightlifting. However, the organisers have clarified that they will add a few more disciplines later this year.
Multiple World Championships medallist and Olympics bronze medal winner Bajrang Punia claimed that Indians are being targeted. "I want to know on what basis this decision was taken because wrestling is one of the oldest sports and almost all countries practise our sport," Punia told The Tribune.
"Also it appears to me that Indians are being targeted. First they removed shooting and now wrestling. This decision is not only against the athletes of other countries, this is clearly against India as we are doing well in these sports," he added.
Shotgun shooter and Khel Ratna awardee Ronjan Sodhi said: "It is very unfortunate that the two sports where India has been dominant are being removed from the Commonwealth Games."
"European nations still consider most countries inferior to them. They cannot comprehend that a country like ours can get better and that is why they are trying to take these sports out. How else can you explain why they took shooting out from the 2022 Birmingham Games? Do you actually believe that a rich country like Britain does not have enough money to build a range," he added.
Wrestling was not part of the Games in 2006. Shooting was removed from the 2022 Games as a consequence the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had called for a complete pull-out. A compromise was worked out between IOA and CGF to allow India to host shooting and archery championships. These events were subsequently withdrawn as well.
The latest development will once again pit these two bodies against each other. Both the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) have asked the Sports Ministry to take the lead in trying to restore their sports in the 2026 sports programme. "We will write a letter to the United World Wrestling (UWW) in this matter. A similar thing happened in 2006 and UWW made sure it returned for later editions," WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said.
"We will also approach the Sports Ministry and IOA to help us find a solution to this unfortunate situation. We feel Indians are unnecessarily getting targeted," he added.