TOPS core group pruned from 120 athletes to just 42

The double Olympics bronze medal-winning men's hockey team, the men's and women's athletics relay teams, and a number of individual athletes have been left out from the Target Olympic Podium Scheme's (TOPS) list for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics cycle, according to officials aware of the matter.

- Avishek Roy

NEW DELHI: India is interested in hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games and is planning to send a letter of intent to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), according to a top official in the sports ministry.

India has also spoken to CGF to see if it can organise the 10 sports that have been removed from the 2026 Glasgow CWG programme. Most of these sports - wrestling, shooting, table tennis, badminton, squash, archery, hockey, T20 cricket - are major medal-winning disciplines for India.

It has been learnt that sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya spoke to CGF president Chris Jenkins during his recent visit to India. "India is interested in hosting the 2030 CWG. A formal proposal will be sent in March. India has also said it is ready to hold competitions in 10 sports that have been left out from Glasgow 2026 in India. All these sports add to India's medal count and we don't want to lose out on that," the sports ministry official said. "CGF said they don't have any problem (on 2026) but it is a call of the Glasgow organisers as they have the hosting rights. India are in talks with CGF and Glasgow and is doing its best to see that these sports are held in India so that we don't lose out our medal winning disciplines."