Shooting included in 2026 CWG, but wrestling, archery miss out

MELBOURNE: Shooting will return to the Commonwealth Games roster in the 2026 edition in Victoria, Australia, while wrestling has been dropped in a bitter-sweet turn of events for India.

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and the Commonwealth Games Australia on Wednesday unveiled the full sport programme for the 2026 CWG, featuring 20 sports and 26 disciplines, including nine fully integrated para sports.

The return of shooting, which was dropped from the Birmingham CWG that was hosted earlier this year, is welcome news for India. Shooting has been India’s strongest sport at the Games with 135 medals (63 gold, 44 silver and 28 bronze) thus far. Wrestling is in third spot with 114 medals (49 gold, 39 silver and 26 bronze).

In the 2018 Gold Coast edition, India shooters clinched 16 medals – nearly 25 per cent of the country’s total medals of 66 – with seven gold, four silver and five bronze. The addition of para-shooting in the 2026 Games will also add to India’s medal tally. Meanwhile, archery has featured only twice in the CWG – in 1982 and 2010 – and India stands second in the all-time medal tally for the sport.

The absence of wrestling, which yielded the most number of medals – 12 (6 gold, 1 silver, 5 bronze) at the Birmingham Games – is a huge loss for India. The sport has been dropped after featuring in four successive Games since 2010.

Wrestling is not popular in Australia and it is understandable that the host has picked sports where home athletes are expected to perform well. Shooting is popular in Australia, which finished second behind India in the 2018 CWG with nine medals (3 gold, 5 silver, 1 bronze). But, the 2026 edition will not have full bore shooting events and will be competed in pistol, rifle and shotgun disciplines.

The development will, however, have no impact on the medal prospects of the India shooters as they are not traditionally strong at full bore events. In April, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had written to the CGF to include shooting, wrestling and archery in the 2026 CWG, describing their dropping from the initial list of sports as “shocking”.