Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju Urges UK Sports Secretary To Include Shooting In 2022 Commonwealth Games
Shooting was not included in the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) due to lack of suitable place to hold the competitions.
Highlights
-
Shooting was not included in the 2022 Commonwealth Games
-
Due to lack of suitable place to hold the competition
-
India topped the table for shooting at last year's edition
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday wrote to UK Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Nicky Morgan, urging her to include shooting in the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham. The Birmingham organising committee had taken the decision to drop shooting from the programme because of the lack of suitable space to hold the competitions. In the letter, Kiren Rijiju said that the International Shooting Federation (ISSF) has offered to share the cost for inclusion of shooting in the Birmingham CWG. He also said the Indian audience takes keen interest in the discipline.
"It seems the decision to exclude shooting is based on the premise that shooting had never been a compulsory sport and there is no venue available for holding shooting events," Rijiju wrote to Morgan.
"The Indian public takes keen interest in shooting. In a constructive gesture, the International Shooting Federation (ISSF) has offered to share the cost for inclusion of shooting in Birmingham CWG," he added.
India topped the table for shooting at last year's edition in Australia, taking home 16 medals including seven gold for a total tally of 66 medals -- the third-best performing nation in the games overall.
Rijiju noted that India makes up more than half of 2.4-billion-strong population of the 53-nation Commonwealth.
(With AFP inputs)