Glasgow hands over Commonwealth Games baton to Ahmedabad

• The Commonwealth Games 2026 officially came to a close in Glasgow on August 2.

• Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, representing King Charles III, formally declared the Games closed.

• Scotland hosted the Games for the fourth time after the Australian state of Victoria withdrew.

• Glasgow 2026 promised a reimagined Games, which they delivered in style with 3,000 athletes from 74 nations and territories competing in 215 medal events across 10 sports.

• The handover ceremony at the Hydro marked the transition from Scotland to India.

• It began with the Commonwealth Games flag making its symbolic journey across the arena.

• Led by bearers holding the Scottish and Indian flags, the procession lowered the folded Games flag. 

• Glasgow’s Lord Provost Jacqueline McLaren then passed it to Commonwealth Games Scotland vice-chair Susan Jackson, Scottish netball player Emily Nicholl, Commonwealth Sport president Donald Rukare, two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra, Indian Olympic Association president P.T. Usha, and finally Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi. 

• The 2030 Games will mark the centenary of the inaugural event held in Hamilton, Canada, in 1930.

• India previously hosted the CWG in 2010 in Delhi.

• Getting the Games’ hosting rights would also be a significant milestone in India’s quest to become an Olympic host in 2036, also proposed to be conducted in Ahmedabad.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)