India will begin its campaign at the Commonwealth Games 2026 with lawn bowls events on the opening day in Glasgow on Thursday, as the country eyes another strong showing at the quadrennial event.
India will be making its 19th appearance at the Commonwealth Games, having first competed in 1934. A 126-member Indian contingent will participate across eight able-bodied sports and five para-sports.
The Indian challenge on Day 1 will begin with the men’s singles and women’s pairs group-stage matches in lawn bowls.
The lawn bowls team returns to the Commonwealth Games after a historic performance at Birmingham 2022, where the women’s fours team of Lovely Choubey, Pinki, Nayanmoni Saikia and Rupa Rani Tirkey won India’s first-ever Commonwealth Games medal in the sport by clinching gold.
India also secured a silver medal in the men’s fours event through Sunil Bahadur, Chandan Singh, Navneet Singh and Dinesh Kumar, while the men’s pairs narrowly missed a podium finish.
The opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2026 will be held at the Hydro arena in Glasgow from 10:30 pm IST.
India’s Day 1 schedule (July 23):
Lawn Bowls
2:00 pm IST – Men’s Singles Group Stage
2:00 pm IST – Women’s Pairs Group Stage
Opening Ceremony
10:30 pm IST onwards – Opening Ceremony at the Hydro, Glasgow.
