NEW DELHI: In a significant setback to India’s medal prospects, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board has removed shooting, weightlifting, and hockey from the roster of medal sports for the much-anticipated 2026 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Dakar, Senegal. The decision was made during a meeting held in Lausanne on December 3, where the IOC confirmed the events and athlete quotas for the Games, scheduled to take place from October 31 to November 13, 2026.
The IOC announced that all 35 International Federations (IFs) would maintain official involvement in Dakar 2026, with 25 sports included in the competition programme and 10 designated as part of the engagement programme. The engagement programme will showcase non-medal sports, including canoe-kayak, golf, hockey, karate, modern pentathlon, shooting, sport climbing, surfing, tennis, and weightlifting.
Dakar 2026 will feature one discipline from each of the 25 medal sports, which include athletics, aquatics, archery, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, breaking, cycling, equestrian, fencing, futsal, gymnastics, handball, judo, coastal rowing, rugby sevens, sailing, skateboarding, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, beach volleyball, beach wrestling, and wushu.
This marks a sharp contrast from the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, where India won 13 medals, including three golds, nine silvers, and one bronze. Shooting alone contributed four medals, including two golds and two silvers, while hockey and weightlifting added two silvers and one gold, respectively.
The absence of shooting, weightlifting, and hockey from the medal events is likely to impact India's performance significantly. In 2018, star shooter Manu Bhaker secured gold in the girls' 10m air pistol and silver in the mixed 10m air pistol, while Simran Kaur earned a silver in the girl’s freestyle 43kg wrestling. However, in Dakar 2026, wrestling will only feature as beach wrestling.
The IOC emphasized that the excluded sports would still hold a presence through interactive activities on-site and digital platforms, highlighting their importance as integral components of the Youth Olympic Games.
The Dakar YOG will feature 151 events, a reduction from the 241 events held during the Buenos Aires edition, with an equal distribution of 72 events each for men and women, alongside seven mixed-gender events. The total athlete quota has been set at 2,700.
The IOC noted that full gender equality would be achieved for the first time in Summer YOG history, not only in the overall athlete quota but also across every sport, discipline, and event. This decision aligns with the IOC’s commitment to delivering a streamlined and efficient programme while maintaining the competition's elite nature.
Originally slated for 2022, the 2026 Youth Olympics were postponed by four years due to the operational and economic challenges posed by the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. The Games will take place across three locations in Senegal—Dakar, Diamniadio, and Saly.
The exclusion of three key sports from the medal roster poses a considerable challenge for India's medal aspirations in the 2026 Youth Olympics, diminishing opportunities for young athletes to replicate or surpass the country’s previous successes on the global stage.