The Commonwealth Games 2026 are being held in Glasgow, Scotland, from July 23 to August 2, marking the city’s second time hosting the event after 2014. The Games were originally awarded to Victoria, Australia, but were relocated to Glasgow after the Australian state withdrew over ballooning costs, resulting in a smaller, more streamlined edition than usual.
Glasgow 2026 features a compact 10-sport core programme spread across four venue clusters within an eight-mile corridor, along with integrated para sport events held alongside their able-bodied counterparts. In total, more than 3,000 athletes from 74 Commonwealth nations and territories are competing, including debutants Gabon and Togo.
India has sent a contingent of around 122 to 125 athletes, competing across eight able-bodied sports, athletics, artistic gymnastics, bowls, boxing, judo, swimming, track cycling, and weightlifting, along with five integrated para disciplines, para athletics, para powerlifting, para swimming, para track cycling, and 3×3 wheelchair basketball.
The Games opened with a ceremony at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro on July 23, with competition beginning the following day in boxing, judo, bowls, and para powerlifting. Artistic gymnastics team finals were held early in the schedule, from July 24 to 28, covering both team and individual apparatus events. Weightlifting ran from July 26 to 30 at the SEC Armadillo, delivering the bulk of India’s early medals. Swimming and para swimming took place at the Tollcross International Swimming Centre from July 24 to 29, featuring a record 56 medal events, the most expansive swimming programme in Commonwealth Games history.
The marquee athletics and para athletics programme is the centrepiece of the Games’ second half, running from July 27 to August 1 at Scotstoun Stadium. This is where Neeraj Chopra’s javelin campaign, Tejaswin Shankar’s decathlon, and India’s sprint and field event entries are concentrated, alongside the para athletics events that have already delivered two of India’s gold medals through Sharmila Dhankar and Dilip Gavit.
Boxing continues through quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals across the second half of the Games, with six Indian fighters already guaranteed medals from the semifinal stage. Track cycling and lawn bowls run through to the closing days, with lawn bowls historically a strong event for India in recent editions.
The Commonwealth Games 2026 conclude with a closing ceremony on August 2, bringing to an end a smaller but still keenly contested edition of the Games, notable for the absence of India’s traditionally strong sports like wrestling, badminton, and hockey from the programme.