KUALA LUMPUR: The national bodies for badminton, squash and diving seem to have accepted the exclusion of their respective sports from the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
Yesterday, the organising committee of the Glasgow Games announced that it had axed badminton, diving, squash, rhythmic gymnastics and table tennis from the programme.
Malaysia won 15 medals in these sports - four of them gold - at the 2022 edition in Birmingham.
Field hockey, rugby sevens, road cycling, mountain biking, triathlon, beach volleyball and wrestling have also been dropped.
Malaysia Aquatics vice president Marilyn Chua said there is nothing much they can do now that diving has been discarded from the programme.
"It depends on the hosts. It looks like they want to cut down on the number of events, and I believe it is also because they are not strong in diving.
"The Commonwealth Games has always been at the top of our preparations for diving. Without it, we can feel there is a big void.
"But on the other hand, it means we can turn our attention to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, which is also in 2026," she told Timesport.
Diving has been part of the programme since the inception of the Commonwealth Games in 1930 - which was then called the British Empire Games - except for the 1942 and 1946 editions, which were cancelled due to World War II.
Overall, Malaysia have won three gold, eight silver and six bronze medals.
In 2022, Malaysia won three silvers: Syafiq Puteh and Gabriel Gilbert Daim in men's 3m springboard synchro, Nur Dhabitah Sabri and Wendy Ng in women's 3m springboard synchro, and Dhabitah collected another silver in the 3m individual springboard. Syafiq and Dhabitah teamed up in the mix 3m springboard synchro for bronze.
Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia vice president Sharon Wee expressed disappointment over the exclusion, and questioned the relevance of the Commonwealth Games if the host country keeps reducing the number of sports.
"I'm sure Glasgow has their own reasons especially with Victoria pulling out at the last minute from hosting the 2026 games.
"It is a short period of time. Maybe they decided to focus on the main sports for them considering the time and financial constraints.
"But in the future if the host country continues to bring down the number of sports, the Commonwealth Games Federation needs to rethink the purpose and relevance of the games," said Sharon, who competed in the 2002 Manchester and 2006 Melbourne Games.
She added that life goes on for the sport, as they will now shift their focus to the Asian Games and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
"With or without the Commonwealth Games, the Malaysian squash team will move forward and continue our periodisation training for tournaments."
Squash was first contested at the Commonwealth Games in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur and has been part of every edition since.
Malaysia have won a total of two gold, one silver and three bronze since 1998. In Birmingham, the team could only bring home one bronze, in the women's doubles, through Rachel Arnold and Aifa Azman.
BA of Malaysia acting president Datuk V. Subramaniam said the exclusion of badminton from Glasgow 2026 will not interrupt their programmes.
"I don't want to jump to conclusions, I'm sure the organising committee has reasons why badminton is excluded.
"There are other sports which have been excluded as well, so we will wait and see what their reason is, and if we feel it is not right, we may lodge an appeal.
"But this will not get in the way of our programmes as we have many tournaments from January to December for our players to prepare and compete in," he said.
Badminton has never failed to be included in the Commonwealth Games for 14 consecutive editions since 1966.
In total, the sport has delivered 31 golds, 22 silvers and 16 bronze for the country.
In the 2022 edition, Malaysia won two golds through women's pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah and in the mixed team event.
Ng Tze Yong won silver in the men's singles while Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik (men's doubles) and Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing (mixed doubles) bagged bronze.