Wrestling, India’s second best sport on the Commonwealth Video games (CWG), has been excluded from the 2026 version to be held Australia. That is the fourth time the game has been dropped from the CWG programme since its introduction in 1930—Auckland 1990, Kuala Lumpur 1998, and Melbourne 2006 have been the opposite cases.
India have been disillusioned when capturing, wherein they return a wealthy haul each time, was dropped from the 2022 CWG. Whereas the game has been restored within the subsequent Video games to be staged within the Victoria state, it’s the flip of the wrestlers to really feel upset.
India have topped the wrestling medal tally 4 instances at CWG, thrice within the final 4 editions. At Birmingham this yr, they gained 12 medals, six of them gold, to be the highest contributors to India’s tally of 61 medals.
The choice wasn’t completely sudden because the native organising committee had excluded capturing, wrestling and archery from their preliminary record in April. Capturing is India’s most profitable sport at CWG (135 medals). A complete of 20 sports activities and 26 disciplines, together with 9 totally built-in para sports activities, might be a part of the subsequent CWG that might be held throughout a number of cities— Geelong, Gippsland, Ballarat and Bendigo—for the primary time.
Vinesh Phogat, solely the second Indian wrestler to finish a golden hat-trick at CWG—double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar was the primary—referred to as it a “unhappy day for Indian wrestling”.
“It isn’t excellent news for Indian wrestling, however what can we do? If it wants an intervention from the federal government, so be it. There are solely a handful of sports activities that we do properly on the world stage, and in the event you take away wrestling, what’s going to we be left with?” the 28-year-old requested.
“What number of main multi-discipline occasions are broadcast in India anyway? It is simply CWG, Asian Video games and Olympics. That is the one time our sport reaches households and other people truly sit and be aware of what we do. Now with wrestling out of CWG, think about the hit wrestling could take by way of reputation,” she stated.
Recounting her days as a rookie in 2014 when she gained her maiden worldwide gold at 2014 Glasgow, the two-time Olympian stated, “I’ve been to a few CWGs, so I do know the worth of those Video games. I do know what it means to be a younger and upcoming wrestler and go to your first CWG. The type of publicity you get is large. That is the place individuals took observe of me, and that confidence made me who I’m,” stated Phogat, a twice World Championships bronze medallist.
Worldwide success aside, CWG success additionally fetches monetary rewards. This yr, the central authorities awarded ₹20 lakh, ₹10 lakh and ₹7.5 lakh for the gold, silver and bronze medallist. Haryana, the hub of Indian wrestling, introduced ₹1.5 crore for all gold medallists. For India’s elite wrestlers, that income stream is now gone.
“Loads of us come from very humble backgrounds,” stated Phogat. “In Haryana, individuals even promote their ancestral land to gasoline their youngster’s wrestling goals, so these monetary positive aspects permit us to care for our households. Wrestling’s exclusion from CWG will damage us in a giant manner.”
Former nationwide coach Kuldeep Singh agreed. “CWG success brings with it monetary positive aspects, jobs, promotions and media consideration. It has been one of the vital productive sports activities for India and it did present a superb platform to kids,” he stated.
The extent of competitors although isn’t top-notch at CWG. With wrestling powerhouses corresponding to Russia, USA, Japan and East European nations not a part of the Commonwealth, the spoils are primarily shared by Canada, who lead with 147 wrestling medals, and India (114). Pakistan, the third-best wrestling nation in CWG, has lower than half of India’s medal tally.
“It isn’t our drawback that the extent of competitors isn’t nice,” Singh stated. “In Birmingham, every weight class had 16-17 wrestlers. So, one cannot say there is not any competitors. It is simply that we occur to be the very best.”
Phogat stated: “Such issues are stated by those that do not get sports activities. We put together the identical manner for every occasion. The coaching, focus, weight reduce, the whole lot stays the identical. If the competitors was actually that simple, we’d have come residence with 12 gold medals from Birmingham.”
London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt referred to as it an “unlucky growth that may have an effect on Indian wrestling”. The 2-time CWG gold medallist (2010, 2014) stated, “CWG was a superb platform for us. Regardless of what individuals could say in regards to the stage of competitors, a medal is a medal, and every medal does wonders to a wrestler’s confidence. Wrestling has been one among our best sports activities, so it being dropped could have a direct bearing on India’s medals tally in 2026.”