India to bid for 2030 CWG, bring back its top sports

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) formally approved the country's bid to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad during its special general meeting on Wednesday. In its bid, India will back a full-fledged sports programme and include their key medal-winning disciplines that were dropped in the truncated edition in Glasgow 2026.

- Avishek Roy

The bid, which is being prepared in collaboration with Commonwealth Sport, is likely to be submitted by August31.

After Victoria declined to host the 2026 edition citing spiralling costs, Glasgow came in as hosts with a truncated sports programme due to budget constraints. The number of sports has been reduced from 20 in Birmingham 2022 to 10 in Glasgow 2026.

Hockey, badminton, archery, shooting, wrestling, table tennis and women’s cricket —most of the disciplines where India’s chances ‘of winning a medal is high —were dropped. While these sports are likely to make a return in 2030 —the number of disciplines could be between 17 and 20—India plans to choose a programme that also showcases its ambition to host the 2036 Olympics, said IOA officials in the know of things.

“We are confident that we will put up a strong bid for CWG 2030. ‘As hosts we will get the importance in terms of choosing the sport but it will be a collaborative approach with the Commonwealth Sport,” IOA president PT Usha told HT.