LONDON: The Commonwealth Games Federation on Monday poured cold water on speculation doing the rounds that a Commonwealth Championship of shooting will be held in India during the 2022 Birmingham Games.
Talk of a CWG shooting championship had surfaced as a compromise solution to make up for the sport’s axing from the multi-sport showpiece.
PTI quotes the CGF as having said that there was no formal proposal made to the International Shooting Sport Federation to conduct a Commonwealth Shooting Championships when its president Louise Martin and CEO David Grevemberg met the top brass of the ISSF on Friday in Munich.
“Although a Commonwealth Shooting Championships is amongst one of several ideas being discussed with the ISSF, nothing has been formally proposed, let alone agreed upon, with any of our partners,” Grevemberg said in a statement.
“Therefore, media speculation around what this event could look like, and what medals won at such an event could mean in the context of the Commonwealth Games, is extremely premature,” his statement adds.
Grevemberg’s statement notes that as per the CGF Constitution “a Commonwealth Championships may not be held in any country three months prior to or after the Commonwealth Games, and (even then) only with the approval of the CGF executive board”.
On the meeting with the ISSF officials, Grevemberg further stated: “We (CGF and ISSF) are both committed to developing the sport of shooting across the Commonwealth and have agreed to work together closely to achieve this objective.
“The ISSF are aware that shooting was not selected as an optional sport for Birmingham 2022 following a comprehensive and transparent review process while the CGF and ISSF both remain committed to creating opportunities for Commonwealth athletes to compete on the biggest and best stage possible.”
Grevemberg said the CGF’s meeting with the ISSF was built on the positive discussions in November with the Indian Olympic Association led by IOA president Narinder Batra.
