Victoria’s decision to pull out of hosting the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in July 2023, citing unsustainable costs, plunged the multi-sport event into uncertainty. There were fears that the 2026 Games might not be held at all. For nearly a year, the search for a replacement host went on.
Event Context
Gold Coast, the 2018 host, along with Singapore and Malaysia, figured prominently before Glasgow officially stepped up in September 2024 to host the event, returning after its successful staging of the 2014 Games.
Describing it as the ‘Reimagined Games’, George Black, Chair, Glasgow 2026, and Phil Batty, Chief Executive Officer, wrote: “Glasgow 2026 is being realised with 150 million pounds of investment. The competition is being entirely privately funded. A self-sustaining, ground-breaking Games delivery model.”
Team Analysis
Realising the spiralling organising costs, Glasgow tactfully cut the number of disciplines to 10 across four venues, a considerable reduction from Birmingham 2022 where 19 sports were staged across 15 venues. In many ways, the Glasgow Games beginning on Thursday can be credited with saving the multi-sport event from losing its relevance.
Match Outlook
It might be a scaled-down Games, but make no mistake there will be no shortage of star power, including Olympic medallists, world champions and reigning CWG title-holders.
Leading India’s charge will be Tokyo Olympics gold medallist and former world champion Neeraj Chopra in the men’s javelin. The Indian ace will be challenged by Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, the Paris Olympic champion and defending CWG titlist.
The athletics discipline will be headlined by Scotland’s reigning world mile record holder Josh Kerr, and England’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the 2023 world champion and Paris Olympics silver medallist in the heptathlon.
Jamaica’s Danielle Williams, the 2023 world champion in the women’s 100m hurdles, and Kenya’s Faith Cherotich, the Paris Olympics bronze medallist in the women’s 3000m steeplechase, are also among the biggest names set to light up Glasgow.
India’s medal hopes in athletics will also rest on Tejaswin Shankar (decathlon), M. Sreeshankar (long jump), and Parul Chaudhary (5000m and 3000 SC). Will Indian athletes be able to overhaul their 2022 medal tally of eight or surpass their best medal haul of 12 from the home CWG in 2010? A sizeable share of India’s medals will also come from boxing and weightlifting.
At Birmingham, Indian boxers won seven medals while the weightlifters returned with 10.
In the boxing ring, Lovlina Borgohain, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist, will be looking for her maiden CWG medal. The others to keep an eye on are Jaismine Lamboria (57kg) and Sachin Siwach (60kg).
In weightlifting, Mirabai Chanu (48kg) will be aiming to complete a historic hat-trick of CWG gold medals.
Harjinder Kaur (71kg), Bindyarani Devi (58kg), Gyaneshwari Yadav (53kg) and S. Sanjana (63kg) are among India’s other leading medal hopes.
Transforming fortunes
The Games had transformed the fortunes of several Indian sportspersons in ways even they scarcely could have imagined. Sharath Kamal, Mirabai and Manika Batra are among the finest examples.
Will the ‘Reimagined Games’ produce a few more young Indian stars?