Athletics and boxing received the lion’s share of the Sports Ministry’s Rs 53.09 crore expenditure to prepare for the scaled down Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2026 and although a medal rush is ruled out due to the event’s truncated schedule, improved performances would certainly be expected.
The quadrennial showpiece event will feature only 10 able-bodied and six para sports in a heavily pruned schedule to save cost.
The 32-strong athletics contingent, which will be headlined by star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra among others, will be participating in 21 events in the Games beginning July 23. More than Rs 20 crore has gone into their preparations, which includes training in foreign facilities.
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Training-cum-competition in Colorado Springs High Altitude Training Centre in USA along with stints in Switzerland, Turkey, and South Africa were a part of the pre-CWG training.
Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will be heading to Glasgow later tonight and will be interacting with the participating athletes and officials during his stay there. India would also be taking over from Glasgow as the next host of the Games in 2030 during the closing ceremony. The India edition, to be held in Ahmedabad, will go back to being a full-scale Games with 17 disciplines on the roster.
The Glasgow Games do not feature most of the high-yielding sports for India, including badminton, shooting, wrestling, cricket and hockey.
“We will do better than last time in disciplines that are there on the roster,” said Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) CEO N.S. Johal, who also heads the government’s Mission Olympic Cell.
On the boxing contingent of 14, seven men and as many women, the government has spent more Rs 10 crore to fund their training and other requirements.
The boxing squad features, among others, Olympic bronze-winner Lovlina Borgohain and is expected to be among the top performers for India.
Rs 7.5 crore has gone into the preparations of 12 weightlifters, including Olympic silver-winning Mirabai Chanu. They have been based in Birmingham for better acclimatisation.
“We have ensured that all our medal prospects are based in Europe before the Games so that there is no problem in adapting to local conditions and time zones at the time of the Games,” Mandaviya said.
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Published on Jul 20, 2026