NEW DELHI: India can pull out of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to protest the exclusion of capturing and archery (recurve) from the Games' programme, Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) secretary common, Rajeev Mehta, has warned. The IOA may just take a call in this regard inside a month's time or so at its Executive Council (EC) meeting in Delhi, Mehta mentioned.
"Yes, we are pretty serious about it (the threat to boycott the Games). India will suffer big time by this decision. Shooting has been our biggest source of medal at the CWG. The sport has a rich history and legacy. Yes, we know that a decision has been taken and it would be difficult to reverse it. But still, it must be ratified by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) members who are meeting next month. Let's see what happens," Mehta informed IdealNews over telephone from London.
The CGF's government board had, on Thursday, advisable dropping of capturing and archery (recurve) from the 2022 version, whilst approving the inclusion of ladies's T20 cricket, para desk tennis and seaside volleyball as an alternative. The resolution should be ratified via 51 % of the CGF's 71 members, which looks like an insignificant formality.
At the 2018 Gold Coast CWG, Indian shooters returned with a wealthy haul of 16 medals, including seven gold. Archery featured in best two editions of the CWG, the last one being the Delhi Games. India had gained 8 medals within the 2010 version, including three gold.
In Gold Coast medals' tally, India had been positioned 3rd (66 medals), at the back of leaders Australia (198) and England (136). However, with the exclusion of capturing, there is a conceivable situation that nations like Canada and New Zealand would possibly overtake India within the medals tally.
Reacting to the development, ace Indian shooter Heena Sidhu informed TOI, "It's going to be quite a bad scenario for India. Our medal tally will be low without shooting. I believe the organisers have done it to strengthen Britain's position in the medals' tally and present a strong image of their country in front of the home crowd. They have cut down on events where we were expected to fare better."
Heena supported the IOA's name to boycott the Games "so as to send a strong message to the CGF that India is no pushover".
AAI's president of 1 faction, BVP Rao, expressed his displeasure over the decision too. "IOA president Narinder Batra should have been campaigning in London for the retention of shooting and inclusion of archery in the CWG than campaigning in Lausanne for his own election of the IOC membership," he mentioned.
"Yes, we are pretty serious about it (the threat to boycott the Games). India will suffer big time by this decision. Shooting has been our biggest source of medal at the CWG. The sport has a rich history and legacy. Yes, we know that a decision has been taken and it would be difficult to reverse it. But still, it must be ratified by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) members who are meeting next month. Let's see what happens," Mehta informed IdealNews over telephone from London.
The CGF's government board had, on Thursday, advisable dropping of capturing and archery (recurve) from the 2022 version, whilst approving the inclusion of ladies's T20 cricket, para desk tennis and seaside volleyball as an alternative. The resolution should be ratified via 51 % of the CGF's 71 members, which looks like an insignificant formality.
At the 2018 Gold Coast CWG, Indian shooters returned with a wealthy haul of 16 medals, including seven gold. Archery featured in best two editions of the CWG, the last one being the Delhi Games. India had gained 8 medals within the 2010 version, including three gold.
In Gold Coast medals' tally, India had been positioned 3rd (66 medals), at the back of leaders Australia (198) and England (136). However, with the exclusion of capturing, there is a conceivable situation that nations like Canada and New Zealand would possibly overtake India within the medals tally.
Reacting to the development, ace Indian shooter Heena Sidhu informed TOI, "It's going to be quite a bad scenario for India. Our medal tally will be low without shooting. I believe the organisers have done it to strengthen Britain's position in the medals' tally and present a strong image of their country in front of the home crowd. They have cut down on events where we were expected to fare better."
Heena supported the IOA's name to boycott the Games "so as to send a strong message to the CGF that India is no pushover".
AAI's president of 1 faction, BVP Rao, expressed his displeasure over the decision too. "IOA president Narinder Batra should have been campaigning in London for the retention of shooting and inclusion of archery in the CWG than campaigning in Lausanne for his own election of the IOC membership," he mentioned.
We'll consider pulling out of 2022 CWG: IOA
![We'll consider pulling out of 2022 CWG: IOA]()
Reviewed by Kailash
on
June 22, 2019
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