Commonwealth Games Federation firm on shooting exclusion despite India protest
Commonwealth Games Federation President chief Louise Martin stressed that hosting shooting across all disciplines was raising logistical issues and therefore, CWG won’t be having it in the next edition. This comes after IOA threatened to boycott the Games, even asking for Sport Minister’s approval.
Shooting has always been one of India’s biggest source of medals at the international stages with the nation getting as many 16 in the last Commonwealth Games alone, which was held in the Gold Coast. India had won 50 medals in others events and shooting alone have seven gold.
Hence, the exclusion of the sport did create chaos, with Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narinder Batra even suggesting that the country boycott the Birmingham Games. He even went on to seek an approval from sports minister Kiren Rijiju.
However, CGF looked unfazed by it and stuck to their initial decision to taking the sport out of the competition for the first time since 1974. In an interview with a Britain’s Daily, he said, “A sport has to earn the right to be in the Games," reported Reuters.
"Shooting has never been a compulsory sport. We have to work through it but shooting will not be in the Games. We have no space anymore," he further added.
It has also been reported that Martin would be trying to meet officials on the Indian side apart from meeting Britain's sports minister, Nigel Adams.
The daily also revealed that while Birmingham had offered to hold two different shooting events, it was turned down by the International Shooting Sport Federation, which demanded a full programme. The closest shooting facility that Birmingham has would be in Bisley, Surrey, about 209 km (130 miles) away.
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