India, Jan. 1 -- If 2025 was about India's sporting ecosystem stepping up, 2026 will be all about follow-through. There can be no letting up, for a nation with sporting ambitions as lofty as ours. No longer can we have a good year followed by a couple of middling ones.

What does this mean for the months ahead?

First, the events. After a vetting process that stretched through most of 2025, India finally won, in November, its bid to bring the 2030 Commonwealth Games (CWG) to its shores. Ahmedabad has been named host city for the centenary edition of the event.

This, after a break of two decades (the last edition held here was in 2010, in New Delhi), marks a return for India, to hosting large-scale multi-sport events. As Union sports mini...