KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh expects Malaysia to lose up to 16 medals following the exclusion of several key sports from the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Scotland, scheduled from July 23 to August 3.
She, however, believes Malaysia still has other sporting events to focus on, presenting an opportunity to secure gold at the quadrennial Games.
She added that Malaysia respects the organiser’s prerogative in selecting the sports to be contested, acknowledging that it is their decision to make.
“After yesterday’s announcement, a preliminary forecast shows that Malaysia will lose 16 medals from the excluded sports. But we respect (the organiser’s decision). This is the prerogative of the organiser, who is given the flexibility to choose the sports.
“But we have sports with potential, like weightlifting and lawn bowls, so we do have the advantage,” she told a press conference at the launch of the 2024 ISNext Programme at the National Sports Institute (NSI) here today.
Yesterday, the Commonwealth Sports Federation (CGF) confirmed Glasgow as the host city of the 2026 Commonwealth Games after Malaysia rejected the offer to replace the Australian state of Victoria, which was the original host.
However, only 10 sports will be contested across four venues within a 12.8km radius, compared with 19 sports during the 2022 edition in Birmingham, England. About 3,000 athletes from 74 Commonwealth countries and territories are set to compete in the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The sports listed for the 2026 Commonwealth Games are athletics and para-athletics; swimming and para-swimming; artistic gymnastics; track cycling and para track cycling; netball, weightlifting and para powerlifting; boxing, judo, lawn bowls and para lawn bowls; as well as 3x3 basketball and 3x3 wheelchair basketball.
Diving, archery, badminton, T20 cricket, hockey, rowing, rugby Sevens and squash are among the sports that will not be contested in the 2026 edition.
— Bernama
