Squash and badminton have been omitted as Commonwealth Games sports.
Squash, which made its debut in 1998, was thought to be safe after Scotstoun was announced as one of the venues, while badminton was initally one of the sports slated to keep its place, but both racket sports have been left off the scaled down programme for Glasgow 2026.
The 2026 Commonwealths will be staged over 11 days from July 23 to Aug 2 in Glasgow.
Ten sports will make up the programme – swimming and athletics leading the way – down from 19 which were staged at Birmingham 2022.
The sports programme will include gymnastics, track cycling, netball, weightlifting, boxing, judo, bowls and 3×3 basketball, alongside some para sports.
Table tennis and hockey, which like squash made its debut in 1998, have also been axed.
The omission of squash is undoubtedly a blow for the sport given the quality of competition it offered over the last seven editions, as well as doubles acting as the pinnacle of its format. The last three competitions had also seen bumper crowds, notably 10 years ago at Glasgow.
In the cut down 2026 event, athletes are set to stay in existing accommodation rather than any competition village.
The four venues used during the 2026 Commonwealths will be the Emirates Arena, Tollcross International Swimming Centre, the Scottish Events Campus and Scotstoun stadium, as Squash Mad has previously reported.
Proposals submitted last week have rubber stamped that, with competition “contained within the venue footprint”.
The multi-purpose Scoutstoun arena, home of Glasgow Warriors rugby and the National Badminton Centre, will host the athletics events. It is a multiple facility where the 2014 Commonwealth squash competitions were also staged.
“The concept is based on a significantly reduced budget, timeline and scale of event, therefore the approach and experience will be different to previous Commonwealth Games. The model remains in development,” a report submitted to Glasgow City Council read.
Commonwealth Games Federation CEO Katie Sadleir said: “The 2026 Games will be a bridge to the Commonwealth Games of tomorrow – an exciting first step in our journey to reset and redefine the Games as a truly collaborative, flexible and sustainable model for the future that minimises costs, reduces the environmental footprint, and enhances social impact – in doing so increasing the scope of countries capable of hosting.”
Commonwealth Games Australia, which has 22 member sports, said last month that sports missing out would be kept “part of our family” but chief executive Craig Phillips could not guarantee future funding.
“This gives us an opportunity to reset the future for the Games,” he said.
“I think what we’ll see is with this revised version of the Games – a pared-back version, a more sustainable version, it will actually create more opportunities for more countries in the Commonwealth to host the games.”
The 2026 Commonwealth Games is set to begin exactly 12 years after those held in Glasgow in 2014.