ACCORDING to officials in the Malaysian sport fraternity as well as Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh, the country could be deprived of as many as 16 medals due the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games axing a few key sports in order to reduce the hosting expenses.
Malaysia was offered a chance to host the Games earlier this year when the Australian city of Victoria withdrew as host but declined due to financial and time constraints.
Since other countries refused to play host, Glasgow picked up the tab and has decided to limit the number of sports in keeping with its main intention of reducing expenditure.
This has not gone well with some countries questioning the criteria of selecting which sports to choose or otherwise. Glasgow has decided to cancel sports like hockey, badminton, rugby, cricket and aquatics and opted for ten low-cost sports.
Though it is the right of the host nation to select the sports especially due to cost constraints, it must be noted that the main draw of the Commonwealth Games nowadays is precisely the sport that have been cancelled.
Sports such as badminton, rugby cricket, hockey and aquatics can be regarded as the core sports of the Commonwealth as many member nations are the main proponents and world champions in these sports.
Cricket is quintessentially a Commonwealth sports and the same applies to badminton and hockey where the world leaders in the sport are also Commonwealth members.
As such, with the Games less than two years away, the host country needs to find a way to include these popular sports.
The Games have been scheduled to begin on July 23, 2026. Perhaps the 56 member nations of the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) can help the Scottish host by a donation drive from the more prosperous members as well as through crowdfunding and other means to raise funds.
The problems the Commonwealth Games have begun facing in recent years necessitate re- thinking about the concept of co-hosting the Games as the only way to defray costs and reduce the financial burden.
Co-hosting of the Games can be made practical due to the cluster formation of the Commonwealth nations.
Thus, co-hosting can be jointly done in the West indies (Jamaica, Barbados, Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago), sub-saharan Africa (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania), Southern Africa, (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia), South Asia (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) and Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Singapore).
Countries such as Canada, Australia and the UK can be sole hosts due to their geographical size and prosperity.
The Glasgow Games can be shared by England, which can host cricket, hockey and badminton, Northern Ireland can host rugby and Wales can host the aquatics.
The number of officials and participants can be reduced to contain expenses concerning the Games Village. These are some of the ways to lessen the burden of the host, as well as how the 2026 Games can still host the full list of sports without having to axe any.
Serious thinking needs to be done to make the future Commonwealth Games more viable and less costly to ensure that it will be financially problem-free.
Nowadays most of the problems concerning hosting multi-sport and even single sport events come from the high expenditure especially for infrastructure and cost over-runs. The days when hosting sports events were seen as glamorous and prestigious are over.
Nowadays, nations fear hosting sports events due to the vast expenditure and domestic opposition.
It is hoped that fellow Commonwealth members will help out Glasgow. The Commonwealth Games will lose it prominence as a top-tier multi-sport event – second only to the Olympics – if some of the popular sports are axed due to financial constraints.
Many Commonwealth member countries, including Malaysia, could return home empty-handed and this could dent the image of the Games. – Oct 31, 2024
V. Thomas is a Focus Malaysia viewer.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main image: AFP
