New Delhi: Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Sanjay Singh has requested to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) to include wrestling in its roster of the 2026 Games. On Tuesday, the Scotland government agreed to a rescue deal with the CGF, promising Glasgow to host the 23rd edition of the CWG Games.
Wrestling was part of the last three editions of the Commonwealth Games roster in 2022 (Birmingham), 2018 (Gold Coast) and 2014 (Glasgow). The last time wrestling wasn’t part of CWG was in 2006 when the contact sport was replaced with basketball in Melbourne. In the 1998 CWG held in Kuala Lumpur, wrestling was replaced with 10-pin bowling.
Sanjay Singh, who was elected as WFI president in December last year, spoke about his conversation with Commonwealth Games organisers. Though he wasn’t confident of Scotland agreeing to include wrestling as a sport, the request was made to the CWG officials.
“I met CGF President Chris Jenkins and CGF CEO Katie Sadleir during NSFs (National Sports Federations) meeting with the Commonwealth Games Federation. We told them how important it is for India and several other nations to have wrestling on the CWG roster. They said that Scotland will have a final say,” Singh told news agency PTI.
“Wrestling is not very popular in the UK. England and Scotland do not send many wrestlers, so chances of it being retained are not very high. They told us the roster will have only 10-11 sports and Scotland will make the final decision,” he added.
How many medals India has won in wrestling at Commonwealth Games?
India is one of the most successful wrestling nations in CWG, having won 114 medals in the sport till the 2022 edition. The last edition in Birmingham in 2022 had 20 sports with India winning 61 medals and 12 of those medals were snared by the wrestlers.
Out of 22 gold medals that India won, wrestling had contributed six, the highest by any sport followed by table tennis (4) and boxing (3).
The 2026 Commonwealth Games were to be held in multiple cities across Victoria but the Australian state made a shock withdrawal in July 2023 citing a steep rise in projected expenditure.
(With inputs from PTI)
Wrestling was part of the last three editions of the Commonwealth Games roster in 2022 (Birmingham), 2018 (Gold Coast) and 2014 (Glasgow). The last time wrestling wasn’t part of CWG was in 2006 when the contact sport was replaced with basketball in Melbourne. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
