Anabelle Smith and Melissa Tapper among Commonwealth Games athletes ruing axed sports
The 2026 Commonwealth Games have excluded several traditional sports, including diving, table tennis, and rugby sevens. Athletes like Anabelle Smith and Melissa Tapper have expressed disappointment over the decision to remove their disciplines from the competition.
Why it matters
The removal of storied sports impacts the career paths of elite athletes and changes the cultural significance of the Commonwealth Games.
Anabelle Smith (left) and Maddison Keeney will be the defending Commonwealth champions until 2030. ( Getty Images: Ian MacNicol )
Link copied Share Share article As the Commonwealth Games kicked off on its first full day of competition, plenty more sat at at home, many wishing it could be them.
Organisers in 2026 ditched badminton, hockey, wrestling, road cycling, mountain biking, rhythmic gymnastics, rugby sevens, squash, table tennis, triathlon, beach volleyball, cricket and, the most storied of all, diving.
It has been held at every edition since the first Empire Games in 1930, until this year.
Of the 22 Commonwealth Games diving events, Anabelle Smith went to the past four, including Glasgow 2014.
Twelve years ago she won bronze in the women's synchronised 3m springboard with Maddison Keeney, but not in Glasgow like the rest of her team.
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