Top five youngest Indian athletes to feature at Commonwealth Games 2026

Lisha Das will be India’s youngest athlete heading into the Commonwealth Games 2026.

Athletes can achieve success at any stage of their careers. Many players have to wait for years to bring home the prestigious Commonwealth medal, while some manage to bring glory to their nation in their very first attempt.

As in every edition, India will send several young athletes to the Commonwealth Games 2026. It is hoped that they will replicate the stellar performance of the previous Games, where the country won a total of 61 medals.

Anahat Singh, a squash player, created history at the 2022 Birmingham Games by becoming the youngest ever Indian to be included in the contingent at just 14 years of age. While the pressure will be enormous for these young guns to deliver at the biggest stage, it remains to be seen how they perform.

On that note, let’s take a look at the top five youngest Indians who will be taking the field in a few days at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Youngest Indian athletes to feature at Glasgow CWG

5. Animesh Kujur (23 years, 1 month, 21 days)

A year ago, “fastest Indian sprinter” wasn’t a phrase attached to Animesh Kujur’s name with any real confidence. Now it more or less is.

In 2025, he ran 20.32 seconds to grab bronze at the Asian Championships and set the national 200m record that still stands, and then went to Greece to become the first Indian athlete to dip under 10.20 in the 100m.

In Glasgow, he’s realistic about where he stands as his personal best sits outside the medal-contention zone against a competitive field that includes Zharnel Hughes and Sinesipho Dambile, both sub-19.75 runners.

However, “outside medal contention on paper” has been wrong about Indian sprinters before, and Kujur’s 2026 season so far makes him a dark horse for a medal.

4. Shreyansh Trivedi (20 years, 7 months, 15 days)

Shreyansh Trivedi’s story so far has mostly been written in bronze. He has won them twice, both at the 2022 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, in the 100m and 200m races. Starting in Lucknow, he began competing in 2019 and won a gold medal at his very first national meet.

3. Neeru Pathak (19 years, 5 months, 26 days)

Neeru Pathak is not heading to Glasgow with a national record or a viral clip to her name, and she is part of the mixed 4x400m relay pool that also includes Rashdeep Kaur and Ansa Babu.

At 19, she’s still building a resume rather than defending one, which actually makes her worth watching for a different reason. Relay running rewards athletes who can hold form under pressure without the luxury of experience.

2. Pooja Singh (19 years, 5 months, 2 days)

Pooja Singh made heads roll in May 2026, as she walked into the Asian U20 Championships in Hong Kong and cleared 1.93m, breaking a national record that had sat untouched since 2012. Sahana Kumari, who held that record, was standing on the same infield as part of the coaching staff.

She has returned after recovering from a severe ligament injury that kept her out of the sport for over a year. Her comeback has been spectacular; since returning, she has won a silver medal at an indoor event and a gold medal at the Asian Championships.

1. Lisha Das (16 years, 1 month, 15 days)

Receiving a call-up to the Indian team at 16 is incredible, and Lisha Das will have the honour of seeing her dream come true at such a young age. She is still in the 11th grade, and until a few weeks ago, most people in the country had not heard her name.

She rides with one arm, and somewhere between the National Para Road Cycling Championship and the Asian Para Track Championships this year, she went from a promising junior to the youngest athlete on India’s entire Commonwealth Games team.

Glasgow will be her first taste of a Games this size, and she will aim to make history, as India have never won a medal in track cycling at the Commonwealth Games despite having participated six times so far.

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