The table tennis community is waiting to hear whether or not the sport will be included in a scaled-back Commonwealth Games due to be held in Glasgow in 2026.

The Scottish city will host the Games, 12 years after it last staged them, after the Scottish government today provided its backing to the plan.

The multi-sports event had been under threat after the Australian city of Victoria pulled out of hosting due to rising costs.

The Commonwealth Games Federation is working with Commonwealth Games Scotland to formally announce Scotland as the host city as soon as possible.

The 2026 Games will include 10 sports at four venues across Glasgow, with only athletics and swimming seemingly confirmed on the programme.

A total of 17 sports made up the programme at the Glasgow 2014 Games, with further sports added at the last edition in Birmingham in 2022.

Table tennis has been included since the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Excluding para competitions, England is third on the all-time medal table behind Singapore and India, having won a total of 18 medals, five of them gold.

The golds include Liam Pitchford & Paul Drinkhall, who have won the last two Men’s Doubles titles, and Paul & Jo Drinkhall’s Mixed Doubles gold at Glasgow 2014, which headed an England clean sweep of the podium.

In addition, England has won four para golds, one silver and three bronze over the years, including Jack Hunter-Spivey’s Men’s Class 3-5 gold at Birmingham 2022.