3 min readUpdated: Jul 23, 2026 10:26 PM IST
Even before the Glasgow Commonwealth Games were declared open on Thursday, the Indian contingent suffered a setback after two of its medal prospects – one each in weightlifting and judo – were withdrawn following anti-doping rule violations.
Arun Kumar, a Judoka participating in the 78 kg category, was removed from the judo squad after he was provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA). Although judo team is yet to leave for Glasgow, India can’t name a replacement due to the competition rules.
Hours after Kumar’s suspension, it was revealed that another Indian athlete, weightlifter Dilbagh Singh, would return from Glasgow – although for no fault of his own. Indian weightlifting has reported five positive cases during the period of June 1, 2025, to July 22, 2026. Consequently, India’s athlete quota was slashed from 16 to 11.
Clause 2.4 of the qualification system reads: “During the period of 01 June 2025 – 22 July 2026 the maximum number of athlete qualification slots allocated to a CGA will be reduced by one (1) if any weightlifting athlete and/or athlete support personnel from that CGA commits an anti-doping rule violation (‘ADRV’). If there are multiple ADRV’s, the maximum number of athlete qualification slots allocated to a CGA will be reduced by the same number as the number of ADRV’s,” the document stated.
Curiously, the Indian Weightlifting Federation still fielded a 12-member team for the CWG, which meant they had to sacrifice one athlete. Ultimately, the federation withdrew Dilbagh on Thursday. Explaining the reason he was chosen, a federation official told The Indian Express from Glasgow: “We decided to withdraw Dilbagh as he is suffering from a back injury and hasn’t trained at all during the preparatory camp in Birmingham.”
The sports ministry had approved a 191-member contingent, including 126 athletes. The country’s medal prospects had taken a massive hit after some of the sports where India has traditionally been strong, including shooting, wrestling and badminton, were axed from the programme due to cost constraints.
Weightlifting was expected to shoulder the medal burden along with boxing, athletics and para-sports. India is expected to win at least half-a-dozen medals in weightlifting, and the squad size reduction is likely to affect the tally. After Athletics, weightlifting is the sport with the second most number of doping offenders as India topped the chart for doping offenders in the 2024 annual report of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). 260 Indian athletes tested positive for prohibited performance-enhancing drugs; athletics topped the list with 76 offenders while weightlifting had 43. At 3.6 per cent, India’s positivity ratio, too, was among the highest in the world.
Story continues below this ad
The development comes at a time when India is set to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games and is actively bidding for the 2036 Olympics. Recently, Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that the government is planning to criminalise doping. “Till now, only the sportspersons testing positive were punished with suspensions, disqualification or return of medals. That has not helped us eradicate the problem. We need to target the whole chain and hand out stringent punishments,” he had said.
