badminton
KUALA LUMPUR: The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) revealed that Malaysia's request to host the badminton event in conjunction with the 2026 Commonwealth Games was rejected by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).
OCM Secretary-General Datuk Mohd Nazifuddin Najib (pic) said Malaysia proposed that the sport, which has been a medal stronghold for the country, be held concurrently with the other 10 sports set by the host, Glasgow, Scotland, from July 23 to Aug 2, 2026.
"We asked the CGF if Malaysia could run the badminton event at the same time as Glasgow hosting the Commonwealth Games 2026, but the request was rejected, and we need to accept the 10 sports determined by the host," he told reporters after the 211th OCM meeting and the 43rd OCM General Assembly here on Saturday (Nov 9).
Badminton is among the sports dropped from the 2026 Commonwealth Games to reduce the cost of hosting the Games in Glasgow.
Instead, only 10 sports will be contested across four venues within a 12.8km radius compared to the 19 sports at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, with approximately 3,000 athletes from 74 Commonwealth countries and territories expected to participate.
The listed sports are athletics and para athletics, swimming and para swimming, artistic gymnastics, track cycling and para track cycling, netball, weightlifting and powerlifting, boxing, judo, bowling and para bowling, 3x3 basketball, and wheelchair 3x3 basketball.
Glasgow, hosting the event for the second time after the 2014 edition, stepped in after Malaysia declined the offer to replace Victoria, Australia, which was originally slated to host the 2026 edition but withdrew in July last year due to rising hosting costs.
Meanwhile, Mohd Nazifuddin said that withdrawing the national contingent from the 2026 Commonwealth Games would not be a wise move; instead, Malaysia is expected to field a smaller number of athletes to compete in Glasgow.
Additionally, he said that the Chef de Mission to the 2024 Paris Olympics, Datuk Hamidin Mohd Amin, expressed disappointment over Malaysia’s failure to secure its first gold medal in his report to OCM president Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria.
At the same time, Mohd Nazifuddin said that OCM would hold a post-mortem meeting on the 2024 Olympics with the National Sports Council this Thursday (Nov 14).
Malaysia concluded its campaign at the 2024 Paris Olympics by bringing home two bronze medals in badminton, won by the 2022 men's doubles world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and professional men's singles player Lee Zii Jia. - Bernama
