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Australia hopes its support for a scaled-back Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2026 will “reset” the multi-sport event’s brand and entice more nations into hosting.
The Scottish government has backed Glasgow’s bid for the Games which were originally to be hosted by Australia’s Victoria state before it pulled out citing cost concerns.
Glasgow’s proposal includes competition for 10 sports at four different venues, 12 years after the Scottish city had 18 sports at the 2014 Games.
The costs will be almost entirely funded by compensation paid to the global Commonwealth Games Federation by Victoria.
Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA) has further agreed to kick in £2.3m ($3.03 million) to help cover Glasgow’s security costs.
While Glasgow is yet to be confirmed, CGA boss Craig Phillips is confident it will go ahead and that the Games have a future beyond 2026.
“I’m not concerned about that at all,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.
“I think this is a reset for the Games.
“I’m very optimistic about the future of the Games and we will get to our centenary Games in 2030. Where it is in the Commonwealth, I don’t know.
“What we’ll see with this revised version of the Games, more sustainable version, it will actually create more opportunities for more countries in the Commonwealth to actually host the Games.”
Australia has long been one of the Games’ greatest champions but no other state offered to step in and host 2026 when Victoria pulled out.
In March, Malaysia rejected an offer to hold them due to time constraints, costs and an insufficient offer of funding in another setback.
Recent Commonwealth Games have suffered from a lack of world class talent, with top athletes often electing to skip them.
Australian athletes are generally enthusiastic, though, with the country topping the medal table at the last Games in Birmingham in 2022 and on the Gold Coast in 2018.
Phillips said Australia’s national athletics and swimming federations had already thrown their support behind Glasgow for the only two sports confirmed in the proposal to date.
“Both have backed in athletes going to the Games,” he said.
“We know how important it is to our swimmers and we know how important it is to our track and field athletes.
“We know they’ll turn up in force, Australian athletes always do.”
Reuters
Source: independent.co.uk
