Hockey, cricket, diving and rugby sevens are among the sports to have been axed from the streamlined 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Just 10 sports are set to feature on the programme in a scaled-back edition after the Scottish city stepped in to host following Victoria’s decision to pull out.
The Australian state had been due to stage the Games but surrendered the right last summer amid concerns over spiralling costs. There were fears over the future of the event before Glasgow emerged as a potential emergency host, with its appointment confirmed on Tuesday.
There were 19 sports at the last Games in Birmingham two years ago, but almost half of those have been left out, while several disciplines in surviving sports have also been culled.
Gymnastics, for instance, will include only artistic - and not rhythmic - disciplines, while cycling will be confined to the track, with no road or mountain bike events.
Athletics and swimming head the programme, though the former has seen the marathon cut. Triathlon also misses out, meaning each of the road-based events that were largely free to attend last time Glasgow hosted the Games in 2014 will be missing from the programme this time around.
The other sports included are netball, weightlifting and para powerlifting, boxing, judo, bowls and para bowls, and 3x3 basketball and 3x3 wheelchair basketball.
“When we started pulling this concept together just under a year ago, our focus was on creating a Games that was different – that could be delivered to the highest quality, in the short time frame, in a financially sustainable way,” said Jon Doig, chief executive of Commonwealth Games Scotland.
“Glasgow 2026 will have all the drama, passion and joy that we know the Commonwealth Games delivers even if it is to be lighter and leaner than some previous editions. It will be more accessible, delivered on a smaller footprint which brings our fans closer to the sporting action.”
Some of the events axed have lengthy associations with the Games. Diving, for example, has featured at every edition since what was then the British Empire Games launched in Hamilton in 1930.
Others, like cricket, have only recently returned to the programme, doing so as a women-only event in 2022. That sport misses out in Glasgow despite the fact it will be added to the Olympic programme in Los Angeles two years later.
The Games will be based across just four venues, all reused from 2014, while participants and coaches will be housed in existing hotels and accommodation, with no new athletes’ village built.
“While Glasgow 2026 will look quite different to previous Games, we can, and we must, use this as an opportunity to work collaboratively to ensure that this new concept brings a strong and sustainable future for the Games,” First Minister John Swinney said.
