CWG archery, shooting championships cancelled due to Covid-19

Birmingham, July 2 (SocialNews.XYZ) The 2022 Commonwealth archery and shooting championships, which were scheduled to take place in Chandigarh in January next year, have been cancelled due to the problems posed by Covid-19 pandemic.

The decision, taken by the Commonwealth Games India (CGI) Executive Board "with the support" of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), was made "after careful consideration of several factors, including the continued uncertainty created by the ongoing global pandemic".

CGF president Dame Louise Martin said in a statement on Friday that, "We are disappointed that the 2022 Commonwealth Archery and Shooting Championships will no longer take place, however, this is the right decision to take in the current climate."

The Commonwealth archery and shooting championships would have been held as separate events from the ones at the main games in Birmingham. The medals from the events were not to be added to the final CWG tally.

The championships were part of an agreement reached between the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the CGF.

The IOA had threatened to pull out of Birmingham CWG 2022 after shooting was dropped from the list in 2019. Later in December, the IOA withdrew its warning during the Annual General Body after a meeting with Louise Martin and then-CEO David Grevemberg in November.

The cost of the shooting event was to be borne by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI). The expenses of the archery event were to be taken care of by the Indian government.

Shooting has traditionally been India's strongest sport in the CWG. Although shooting is not a compulsory CWG sport, it has always been present at the Games except the 1970 edition in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Archery is one of the optional sports of the quadrennial event hosted only twice, in Brisbane 1982 and Delhi 2010.

Source: IANS