23 July,2026 08:59 AM IST | Mumbai | Karan Shankar
Viren Rasquinha
Former India hockey skipper and Olympian Viren Rasquinha is confident that while India's medal tally will take a hit due to the truncated number of disciplines at the Commonwealth Games, starting in Glasgow on July 23, the nation's position in the medals table should be similar to last time's finish at Birmingham 2022, fourth place. The quadrennial showpiece event was initially scheduled to be held in Victoria, Australia, but after they suddenly backed out in 2023 citing escalating financial projections, Glasgow stepped in.
But given the sudden shift and quick turnover, the list of sports was cut short from 19 to 10, including para events. The sports that have been included are athletics, swimming, track cycling, 3x3 basketball, lawn bowls, netball, artistic gymnastics, judo, weightlifting, and boxing.
In the previous edition, India won a total of 61 medals - 22 gold, 16 silver, and 23 bronze. The excluded sports this year contributed to 30 medals in 2022, among which, India won the most medals in wrestling (12), table tennis (seven), badminton (six), and hockey (two).
Rasquinha, 45, admitted that the void will be felt. "It's going to be a very different Commonwealth Games, because, for us, a lot of our medal-winning sports are not there. So, it's 100 per cent going to affect our medal tally," Rasquinha said during a media interaction organised by the Sony Sports Network on Wednesday. He went on to stress though that the position on the final table won't change.
"Australia and England are by far the strongest, but for that third place, which India ideally should be aiming for, it's always a battle between New Zealand, Canada and India. What will be really important is whether we can win those gold medals. We had won 61 medals but 30 came from sports that aren't there this time. So, it's surely going to affect our medal tally, but hopefully, not our eventual position on the table," said Rasquinha, who was part of India's hockey team at the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
When asked for his prediction for India's medals, Rasquinha told mid-day: "If you analyse the last two Commonwealth Games, in athletics, we went from three medals [in 2018] to eight [2022], and if you look at what's happening in Indian athletics, it's been super interesting, because there have been 26 national records in the last one year. So, athletics is definitely one sport, where we can look at eight to 10 medals. In boxing, we won seven medals [in 2022]. The women's team is so strong this time that all seven boxers are capable of winning medals. In weightlifting, we won 10 medals last time, including three gold, and we can expect eight to 10 medals again. Lawn bowls, for me, was super-exciting and a surprise success last time, where we won two medals. I expect two to three judo medals and four to five from our para athletes," he signed off.
10
No. of sporting disciplines at the 2026 CWG in Glasgow
