Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju Tuesday said the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) cannot take a unilateral decision about pulling out of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games following the omission of shooting from the event’s roster.
Last week, the Commonwealth Games Federation left outshooting from the 2022 Birmingham Games in its Executive Board meeting whilerecommending the inclusion of three new sports.
The decision is a big blow to India which had won as many as16 shooting medals out of a total haul off 66 in the 2018 Gold Coast CWG andthe IOA said it is mulling to withdraw from the 2022 event.
However, Rijiju said his ministry will discuss the issue indetails with the shooting federation (NRAI) and IOA before taking a decision.”I haven’t discussed with the shooting federation. Officially I don’t knowabout their position. If you have to boycott, you have to ask the governmentbecause these decisions are not to be taken unilaterally, it has to be donethrough proper consultation,” Rijiju told reporters.
“It is a matter of future of our athletes and nationalprestige, everything is involved. Our IOA must have taken a stand and we willdiscuss with them.” Last year, the IOA submitted a formal expression ofinterest to bid for the 2032 Olympic Games. Asked about the ambitious plan,Rijiju said he was not averse to the idea of hosting big-ticket events butstressed on the need to plan properly to avoid any embarrassment for thenation.
“It is a pride for any nation to host internationalevents, who wouldn’t want to have an Olympics, World Cup or any otherinternational championship. The question is are you prepared for that? and howmuch you are putting in preparation for that,” Rijiju said. “You can’t just have an event and thencreate an embarrassing situation. It is not about hosting the event but hostingit in a befitting manner. The long-pending National Sports Code also cameup during the interaction and the Minister was asked about it not seeing thelight of the day in the Parliament even now. “After I took over, I haven’tgone through the entire provisions, and there is a matter in the court also, soif the new sports code has to be adopted it has to be done through properconsultations with stakeholders.