Sri Lanka has reportedly expressed interest to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games, BBC reports. According to BBC, Australia, Canada, India, and Sri Lanka have expressed interest in staging the 2026 Games but, as yet, a host has not been secured. “I am quietly confident that we will be announcing [the 2026 host] in the first quarter of next year, prior to Birmingham. We are working with cities and countries,” Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) President Dame Louise Martin said. “Hopefully next year we will be able to showcase that you can bring in other countries to host together. We’ve been trying hard to get the smaller countries to host the Games, but they are too small to do it the way it’s gone.” “So that is why we are looking at the roadmap, to see what is necessary, what we really need to do. If somebody has a fantastic athletics stadium but the country next to them has got a fantastic shooting range, link up together and see what we can do,” she further said. Meanwhile, the number of compulsory sports that Commonwealth Games hosts will have to stage in the future is set to be cut from 16 to just two. Under a radical new ‘strategic roadmap’ designed to preserve the event’s future, only athletics and swimming will enjoy protected status. With Games bosses struggling to convince cities to bid for the event, the shake-up is designed to give potential hosts more choice over their programme. As well as greater freedom to select urban and e-sports in a bid to appeal to younger audiences, cities will be encouraged to select entirely new disciplines that are popular locally. In an attempt to drive down costs and innovate, co-hosting will be encouraged and there will be no requirement for an athletes’ village. Source: BBC