The Australian Commonwealth Games team is set to embrace a "lighter and leaner" program in Glasgow, with chef de mission Petria Thomas vowing the athlete experience will exceed the last Games.
Team sports hockey, rugby sevens and cricket are among the big-name casualties, axed from the pared-back Glasgow program in 2026.
The 2026 Games, relocated to Scotland after Victoria's withdrawal as host, will feature just 10 events, which is nine less than the previous edition held in 2022 in Birmingham, England.
Other sports to be left out include diving, badminton, beach volleyball, mountain biking, rhythmic gymnastics, squash and table tennis.
Athletics and swimming were the only sports guaranteed a spot on the program, which also includes track cycling, weightlifting, 3x3 basketball and lawns bowls - all of which include a para equivalent.
Netball, artistic gymnastics, judo and boxing round out the chosen 10, with the Games to run from Thursday, July 23, to Sunday, August 2.
But Thomas said the experience would still be memorable for the Australian team, who topped the medal count in Birmingham with 180, including 67 gold.
"We knew the Games were headed to Glasgow, and we now know when they'll be and the sports that will take part - it's an exciting milestone in our preparations," Thomas said in a statement.
"We are committed to an experience for Australia's team that exceeds Birmingham, with no stone to be left unturned as we target both performance and memories that last a lifetime."
As a cost-saving measure, the 10 sports will be spread across just four venues - Scotstoun Stadium, Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Emirates Arena (including the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome) and the Scottish Event Campus.
That dictated which sports were included, although sevens could be considered unlucky given Scotstoun Stadium, which will host the athletics, is also home of the Glasgow Warriors rugby union side.
About half the number of athletes who competed in Birmingham - 4822 - are set to be in Glasgow, with the reduced cost contributing to the decision to cut weighty team sports.
Athletes and support staff will stay in hotel accommodation rather than an athletes' village, while the event will have low-cost opening and closing ceremonies.
According to the Glasgow 2026 organising committee, the Games "is about delivering a lighter and leaner programme of sports to ensure that we strike a balance between ensuring the event has a high-quality multi-sport feel but that can be delivered to the highest level in a short time-frame on a budget which does not rely on public funds to deliver the Games".
The multi-sport event had been endangered since the Victorian government pulled out as host last year, citing spiralling costs, which, it claimed, had blown out the budget to $6 billion.
Victoria then paid $380 million in compensation to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), of which $200 million has been directed to Scotland, who also hosted the event in 2014.
That figure will be topped up by $4.5 million from Commonwealth Games Australia to cover security.
CGF chief executive Katie Sadleir defended the inclusion of 3x3 basketball above more traditional Commonwealth sports and also boxing.
"The 3x3 basketball competition had been incredibly popular in terms of ticket sales and also in terms of audience appeal," Sadleir told AAP.
Boxing's governing body, the IBA, has been expelled by the Olympics and Sadleir said the sport would have "specific conditions" applied in order to compete in 2026.
But she said its "universality" couldn't be ignored.
"In Birmingham there was 55 of the 72 countries that participated in the boxing program, so we know that boxing is incredibly important for the Commonwealth, particularly some of our smaller members, much of their team is made up of boxers," Sadleir said
She said Glasgow was a model to share future Games around the Commonwealth.
"It needed to be sized at a sustainable level, so we are looking at resetting, and Glasgow gives us the opportunity to try some of the innovative ways of making sure that we can run a Commonwealth Games, that is attractive for more countries to host," Sadleir said.
