NEW DELHI: After much bluster and bombast, Indian sports officialdom gets real. Speaking about the Commonwealth Games Federation’s (CGF) decision to remove shooting from the Games Programme for 2022, National Rifle Association of India secretary Rajiv Bhatia said that there was nothing NRAI could do now that the organising committee has taken a final call on the matter.
“We tried out everything but now that the organising committee has taken a final call on it, nothing can be done. It’s over now,” Bhatia told IANS.
It was revealed in June that the executive board of the CGF had decided to exclude shooting from 2022 Games to be held in Birmingham. It is the first time since 1970 that shooting won’t be seen at the Commonwealth Games and only the second since its first inclusion in 1966.
The move comes as a blow to India which won 16 medals, including seven Gold in the event at the 2018 CWG at Gold Coast, Australia. NRAI president Raninder Singh had even talked up convincing the Indian government to boycott the 2022 Games in the event shooting was dropped from the programme.
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju was quick to pour cold water on that wildly optimistic proposition, making clear last month that the government would not be able to interfere in the matter.
