Omission has India looking at boycott

The organisers of the 2022 Commonwealth Games have defended their decision to exclude shooting from the programme in Birmingham, a controversial move that has prompted India to consider a boycott.

Shooting has been included in every games since 1974 but is not one of the Commonwealth Games Federation’s “core sports” and was not listed as an optional sport in Birmingham’s bid for the multi-sport event.

In September 2018, five sports – archery, beach volleyball, cricket, para table tennis and shooting – expressed their wish to be part of the games and an assessment panel, comprised of representatives from local and national government, as well as Birmingham 2022’s organising committee and Commonwealth England, was set up to weigh each sport’s case.

Last month, Birmingham 2022 announced that beach volleyball, para table tennis and women’s cricket had been successful but archery and shooting were out, much to the annoyance of British Shooting and International Shooting Sport Federation, which had offered to subsidise the costs of staging the event at Bisley, the Surrey venue used for the 2002 Commonwealths in Manchester.

But their response was mild compared to the reaction in India, where shooting has been a fertile hunting ground for medals over the years, and over the weekend it emerged that the India Olympic Association has written to the sports ministry for talks about a “proposed boycott”.