CGF to consider India’s plan to stage 2022 Games shooting

NEWDELHI:SHOOTING, left out of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games despite leading contenders India’s protests and boycott threat, is likely to still be part of the programme. Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has agreed to consider a joint proposal by India and world shooting body, ISSF, to stage the competition in India and add the medals to the Games tally.

The CGF has asked the Indian shooting federation to make a formal submission by early next month, to be taken up by the its sports committee first and then its Board for approval. The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has offered to foot the bill for the event.

The 2022 Games organisers had dropped shooting—an optional sport for the hosts— from the programme, and their choices—basketball, judo, gymnastics, table tennis and wrestling are the optional sports besides 16 core events—were confirmed by CGF in January, 2018. CGF CEO, David Grevemberg, had explained then: “Our shared ambition is to broaden the pipeline of Commonwealth cities and nations wishing to realise the benefits of a Games—and to do that we must give our hosts the scope to propose and deliver their Games.”

The Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) boycott threat was followed by a visit by CGF president Louise Martin to India last month. She met top officials of IOA and the National Rifle Association of India. NRAI president Raninder Singh met International

shooting federation (ISSF) president Vladimir Lisin and CGF officials in Munich on December 5 where the joint proposal from NRAI-ISSF to host shooting thousands of kilometres from the Games city was discussed.

Raninder, also an ISSF vicepresident who has been involved in the negotiations for shooting’s inclusion, is confident the proposal will be cleared by CGF. “We are currently preparing the proposal to forward to CGF for examination on merits. Therefore, while we are supremely optimistic at this proposal’s fate, it is to be clearly understood that this proposal is yet to be examined upon its merits by CGF and assessed on various facets to its satisfaction, before they can and shall arrive at any decision on it,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.