The Executive Council of the Indian Olympic Association will meet next month to take a final decision on its boycott call of 2022 Commonwealth Games, its Secretary General Rajeev Mehta said on Saturday.
The IOA had proposed to boycott the 2022 Birmingham CWG in protest against the dropping of shooting from its roster and requested the sports ministry for its views.
Mehta, however, refuted allegations in some reports that IOA has not taken up the case of shooting in an amendment of the constitution of the Commonwealth Games Federation pertaining to the composition of compulsory sports at the 2015 General Assembly.
He said the IOA had backed the amendment as it included sports like wrestling, table tennis and gymnastics -- in which India is strong -- among compulsory sports. He added that the IOA's support to that amendment has no relation with shooting.
"Earlier the choice of optional sports was restricted to seven but the 2015 amendment to Article 22 (Sports in the Programme for CWG) removed the cap in the number of optional sports also,” said Mehta.
"Shooting was never a compulsory sport in Commonwealth Games. It has always been an optional sport but at the same time has been a part of every CWG since 1966 with the exception of 1970 in Edinburgh. The CGF Constitution of 2005 and 2014 mentions shooting as a choice of the host. In 2010 Delhi CWG also, shooting was an optional sport," he added.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)