India seek inclusion of wrestling, archery & kabaddi in CWG

At the two-day Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) Asia and Oceania regional meet, Australia, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) made a very strong argument for the inclusion of archery, wrestling, and kabaddi as regular competitions in the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
The Indian delegation met with the CGF president Dame Louise Martin and her team to discuss topics for the development of Indian sports with regard to the Strategic Plan being proposed by CGF. The delegation was led by IOA president PT Usha and included its acting CEO & Chaubey and executive council member, Lt Gen Harpal Singh (Retd.).
Usha said, “I welcome the steps taken for the return of shooting at the 2026 Victoria Commonwealth Games. At the same time, we have sought the intervention of the CGF leadership to make archery, wrestling and kabaddi as part of the Games competition roster in future.”
CGF and the CWG Australia had earlier unveiled the full sport programme for Victoria 2026 CWG, featuring 20 sports and 26 disciplines, including nine fully integrated para sports.
Chaubey, while expressing satisfaction on the discussion Indian delegation had with CGF, said “Shooting has been India’s strongest sport and its return in 2026 CWG is a welcome development for India. I’m sure that the inclusion of para-shooting will also add to India’s medal tally.
The local organising committee removed shooting, archery, and wrestling from the CWG Games schedule for the 2026 edition in April of last year since the host nation is free to select disciplines from among 22 core sports.
In addition to workshops and extensive discussion around the forthcoming Strategic Plan, which will be launched later in the year, there were updates on development, a review of regional plans and sharing of best practice between delegates.