New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS): Former India shuttler Parupalli Kashyap has expressed his surprise at badminton being excluded from the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and said that "it is a very strange decision" as badminton has been one of the most popular sports in the Games.

On Tuesday morning, the organisers confirmed that Glasgow 2026 will feature a 10-sport programme, in which badminton is one of the major sports being dropped.

"Very strange that this decision has been taken. I don't know what this decision is. India is one of the biggest Commonwealth nations playing in the event. It's really unfortunate... I won the gold in 2014 Glasgow CWG and it was a full house. So many fans came to watch the match, and there were no seats left. Kind of a very strange decision to put out," Kashyap, who interestingly won the gold in the 2014 Glasgow games, told IANS.

In badminton, India have won an impressive 31 medals, including 10 gold, eight silver, and 13 bronze. Notably, India were to enter the 2026 edition as defending champions in men’s and women’s singles, as well as men’s doubles.

"I am not able to actually understand it. Badminton is one of the most popular sports in CWG, I would say. In 2014, there was no space (in stands) available from the quarterfinal onwards."

Besides badminton, other major sports dropped from the programme are hockey, shooting, cricket, badminton, wrestling, table tennis and squash. Kashyap could not understand how excluding sports popular in India would be a wise decision for the organisers in terms of business.

"These are the sports where Indians do well. I don't understand the business decision in this. How does it make commercial sense because these are the popular sports among Indian fans in Glasgow and especially in the UK," he said.

The 2022 edition in Birmingham had featured 19 sports, where India won 61 medals, including 22 gold. Wrestling (12), weightlifting (10), athletics (8), boxing, and table tennis (7 each) contributed the most to the overall tally.