Lovely Choubey. Pinki. Rupa Rani Tirkey. Nayanmoni Saikia. Police constable, PE teacher, district sports officer, forest officer.
For all but the geekiest of Indian sports fans, these names may mean not much but in 2022, they were Indian sport's brightest heroes. That year, they teamed up to win India's first ever Commonwealth Games medal in Lawn Bowls (and a gold to boot). Four years on, we are now 150 days away from the start of yet another edition of those Games. To be followed, weeks later, by the Asian Games. Two events that, along with the Olympics, mark the pinnacle of most Indian athletes' careers. (And, following that, the biggie in India's newest sporting craze, the Chess World Championships.)
The 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, though a truncated version with far fewer events, will have its highlights. At one level, the CWG is an anachronism, a gathering of nations united only by their past as colonies under a brutally exploitative regime. At the same time, however, it's part of the process of reclaiming their own identities, allowing their people to express themselves freely and with pride. And for many Indian athletes - not least the lawn bowls players - it's their one shot at sporting stardom. Lawns bowls is an exclusive CWG event, which is why Lovely and co. have had to wait four years for the spotlight to return.
In events like judo and weightlifting, where competition at the Asian and World levels are dramatically tougher, the CWG gives athletes an opportunity for medals, limelight and recognition. It's the stage that allows embroider-turned-lifter Achinta Sheuli to shine, to change his (and his family's life). The stage that judoka Shushila Devi has won two silver medals, and still aching for gold, she'll watch a new generation afraid of nothing compete alongside her trailblazing self. The stage that set up India's table tennis mini revolution, the stage that underlined just how much Nikhat Zareen had stepped out of Mary Kom's shadow, the stage that gave the current women's hockey team the medal that validated all that they'd gone through, how far they'd reached.
Soon after the Glasgow Games end, the Asian Games will set off: and India will want to prove that their triple-digit medal haul from 2023 was no fluke. There are many stories to look forward to. If 2023 was where Sakshi Malik gave her last display of wrestling dominance, 2026 could be where her great friend Vinesh Phogat returns from retirement and the agony of Olympic disqualification to prove she's still very much the woman. If 2018 CWG gold was what launched Neeraj Chopra onto our nation's collective conscious, 2026 could be when the greatest athlete India has ever produced brushes aside concerns of decline and decay. This year, though, and partly because of the example he set for his peers, he'll face his toughest competition yet, both at the CWG and the Asian Games. If 2022 and 2023 were landmark years for the rest in Indian track & field, 2026 is where they get to prove that wasn't a one-off: the stage is set for Sreeshankar Murali's comeback, for Avinash Sable's continued shaking up of the establishment order, for Tejaswin Shankar's indomitable spirit.
There are many more answers that we will get answers to: how will Indian TT survive without its godfather, Sharath Kamal? Can the swimmers continue their steady improvement and produce a shock or two at the international stage? Can Ronaldo and Beckham and the track cyclists win over more fans? Will we see a new Dipa Karmakar defy gravity and leap onto our front pages? Can the shooters continue growing from strength to remarkable strength at the Asiad? Will the compound archers maintain their unreal dominance of their sport? Could Sheetal Devi do the impossible (again) and make the regularly abled team for the Asiad?
And it's not just these two major events, either. Dommaraju Gukesh will be defending his hard-earned World Champion crown, possibly against compatriot R Praggnanandhaa. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have a shot at immortality at home, when Delhi hosts the BWF World Championships: a stage where it's impossible to write off the great PV Sindhu, even if she is but a shadow of her former self. Harmanpreet Singh will lead a hockey team desperate to break a decades-long hoodoo at the World Cup. Three different age-group teams (u17, u23, senior) will be shooting for most unexpected glory in women's football when their respective Asian Cups come around. February has already given us a glimpse of the magic the Davis Cup can whip up, and there could be more in store.
These are the stories, the on-field questions, that drive us all on. In Indian sport it's easy to get disheartened the longer you look at things off field. From the circus that is domestic football to the travesty of justice that is Indian wrestling, where Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, still under trial for alleged sexual harassment, is a guest of honour at the final of the returning Pro Wrestling league. But just as the athletes keep their focus on the main event, it's time for the fans to do so too. And that's why 2026 is so important. Why the CWG that sets it all off is so important.
On your marks, get set... we're just 150 days away.
