Other than kabaddi, the Indian delegation, led by IOA President PT Usha, who won four athletics golds at the 1986 Asian Games, also recommended the inclusion of archery and wrestling at the quadrennial event.

Kabaddi has never been a part of the Commonwealth Games programme.

However, the sport has featured regularly at the Asian Games, where the Indian kabaddi teams have been a dominant force.

The Indian men’s kabaddi team has won seven golds and one bronze at the Asian Games while the women’s team has earned two golds and one silver at the continental event.

Meanwhile, wrestling has been dropped from the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games after featuring in four successive Games since 2010.

Wrestling has been one of India's strongest sports in the Commonwealth Games in terms of medals.

India are third in the all-time medals tally with 114 - comprising 49 golds, 39 silvers and 26 bronze medals.

Indian wrestlers were the best achievers, winning 12 medals - six golds, one silver and five bronzes - at Birmingham 2022.

Archery, on the other hand, has featured only twice at the Commonwealth Games, in 1982 and 2010, and India are second in the all-time medals tally for the sport with three golds, one silver and four bronzes.

Commonwealth Games Australia had earlier unveiled the full sports programme for the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games, featuring 20 sports and 26 disciplines, including nine fully integrated Para sports.

Shooting is set to make a return at Victoria 2026 after being dropped from the Birmingham 2022 edition.

The sport has been India's strongest in the Commonwealth Games with 135 medals - 63 golds, 44 silvers and 28 bronzes - to date.

The Indian delegation met the CGF President Dame Louise Martin and her team in Brisbane to discuss the development of Indian sports.

"I welcome the steps taken on the return of shooting in the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games," PT Usha said.

"At the same time, we have sought the intervention of the CGF leadership to make archery, wrestling and kabaddi as part of the Games competition roster in future."

IOA member Lt Gen Harpal Singh (Retd) helped to present India’s case at the meeting, emphasising that total population of the Commonwealth countries is 2.2 billion - out of which more than 80 per cent (1.8 billion) is in South Asia.

"It is very imperative that traditional games of South Asia are included in all the future Commonwealth Games," Singh said.

The Indian delegation in the meeting recommended the following five top priorities out of the nine priority actions for Asia in the CGF Strategic Plan, those priorities being the establishment of an innovative, high-quality sports programme and product, building and maintaining a strong partnership with all Commonwealth countries and wider athlete representation and voice across governance.

Lt Gen Harpal Singh said that the youth of the country will be inspired if sports are made attractive to the youth.

He added that India has a structured programme for sports in schools where traditional games are included.

Therefore, he added, to attract and inspire youth, traditional games like shooting, archery, wrestling, kabaddi, kho kho, and football should be included in the Commonwealth Games.

This, he said, would enhance the relevance of the Commonwealth Games to South Asia.

He added that these traditional games have a large fan base both in terms of physical spectators and digital fanbase, which would result in much-needed revenue for the CGF for the promotion of sports.