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Melbourne, October 5
Shooting will return to the Commonwealth Games roster in the 2026 edition in Australia’s Victoria, while wrestling and archery have been dropped in a bittersweet turn of events for India.
The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and the Commonwealth Games Australia today unveiled the full programme for the Victoria 2026 CWG, which features 20 sports and 26 disciplines including nine fully integrated para sports.
CGF president Louise Martin said: “The Games are set to be competitive and action-packed, featuring an extensive, fully integrated para sport programme, the debuts of coastal rowing, golf and BMX, the return of shooting and the scintillating 3x3 Basketball.”
The return of shooting, which was controversially dropped from the Birmingham CWG earlier this year, is a welcome development for India. It has been India’s strongest sport in the CWG, with 135 medals (63 gold, 44 silver and 28 bronze) won till now, while wrestling has yielded 114 (49 gold, 39 silver and 26 bronze) medals.
In the 2018 Gold Coast edition, the Indian shooters won 16 medals – 25% of the country's 66 medals. The addition of para shooting in the 2026 Games is also good news for the country.
The absence of wrestling, which yielded 12 medals (6 gold, 1 silver, 5 bronze) at the Birmingham Games, is a big loss. The sport has been dropped after featuring in four successive Games since 2010.
“The shooting programme will include air pistol, air rifle, shooting para sport and shotgun trap. However, full bore are not included,” according to an Australian shooting official.
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