After Glasgow's Commonwealth Games lite, it's grande Gujarat

Updated On: 04 August, 2026 09:36 AM IST | Glasgow | Rohit Mahajan

Desi tadka spiced up Sunday night’s closing ceremony of Glasgow CWG, where India finished fourth with 39 medals as Ahmedabad 2030 promises to be much bigger in terms of both, cost of investment and returns through medals

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India javelin star Neeraj Chopra (right) receives the Commonwealth Games Federation flag from Commonwealth Sport President Donald Rukare at the closing ceremony in Glasgow on Sunday. PIC/PTI

Has Glasgow saved the Commonwealth Games? How will Ahmedabad do in 2030? These were the questions foremost in the mind as this year’s 11-day jamboree with a reduced number of sports and low budget — CWG Lite — came to an end with a closing ceremony marked by song, light, officialspeak, and some desi tadka.

As the curtains came down on Glasgow 2026 on Sunday night, it seemed possible that CWG can indeed survive, perhaps in the version that Glasgow presented — reduced, efficient, volunteer-driven and with low cost to the public, totalling just Rs 2,100 crore. For perspective, this number pales before the R18,500 crore spent by India for the Delhi CWG 2010. Glasgow 2014 cost the organisers £543 million (Rs 6900 crore), while the bill at Birmingham 2022 was £680 million (Rs 8700 crore).