Potential Commonwealth Games hosts are to be given more freedom when it comes to deciding what events they want to put on when hosting the event following a radical shake-up from organisers.
As it stands, there are 16 different sports on a list that must be compulsorily included at any Commonwealth Games.
That number is set to be cut to just two, with athletics and swimming the only sports a host city will be required to make arrangements for going forward.
The change is designed to make hosting the Games more attractive, with organisers struggling to convince many cities to bid for the right to put on the show.
But the news is cause for concern for those involved in the sports that are being cut from the list, as their place at future Games will no longer be certain.
The core sports have changed here and there through the decades, but for the 2022 Games in Birmingham the list was: athletics, badminton, boxing, road cycling, artistic gymnastics, hockey, judo, lawn bowls, netball, rugby sevens, squash, swimming, table tennis, triathlon, weightlifting/powerlifting and freestyle wrestling.
A host city can then choose to add extra optional sports – in Birmingham those will be diving, basketball (3x3 and wheelchair), mountain biking, track and time trial cycling, rhythmic gymnastics, Para-triathlon, beach volleyball, women's T20 cricket and Para-table tennis.
It is hoped that, with having fewer restrictions on what core events must be staged, hosts will be able to select a more varied range of sports, including those which are especially popular in certain countries, while e-sports are also a potential future addition.
"Our Games need to adapt, evolve and modernise to ensure we continue to maintain our relevance and prestige," said Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Dame Louise Martin.
A host has not yet been secured for the Games planned for 2026, with the CGF encouraging some of the Commonwealth's smaller nations to band together to explore the opportunity of becoming joint-hosts of a future event.
"I am quietly confident that we will be announcing [the 2026 host] in the first quarter of next year, prior to Birmingham," Martin added. "We are working with cities and countries.
"Hopefully next year we will be able to showcase that you can bring in other countries to host together. We've been trying hard to get the smaller countries to host a Games, but they are too small to do it the way it's gone.
"So that is why we are looking at the roadmap, to see what is necessary, what do we really need to do. If somebody has a fantastic athletics stadium but the country next to them has got a fantastic shooting range, link up together and see what we can do."
