Shooting Dropped From 2022 CWG: Lesson For Sports to Stay Relevant
How shooting was dropped from the 2022 CWG and why it’s a lesson for other sports to stay relevant with the times.
At a time when the greatest sports show on earth – the Olympic Games – is gravitating towards events like break-dancing, sports climbing to ensure a connect with a larger audience, the exclusion of Shooting and Archery from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games is a reminder to all sports to stay competitive, relevant, broad-based and popular across the spectrum of nations and territories.
Two things painted a grim picture for shooting.
From 36 medal events in 2010 in Delhi, it was sliced to nearly half in 2014 in Glasgow and 2018 in Gold Coast. The early alarm bells were ringing, even if only faintly. The shooting community should have campaigned harder to keep the distance between the sport and Commonwealth Games from growing.
The 2014 events were held in the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre, sitting within the Ministry of Defence’s training camp, located in Carnoustie, two hours away from Glasgow. The 2018 competitions were in Belmont Shooting Complex, 70km north of Gold Coast.
Birmingham would have had to look at a range in Surrey, 220km away.
How Shooting Was Dropped
It is not the physical distance but the metaphorical distance between the sport and the organising committee that will worry the shooting community. But there is little that can be done at this stage for shooting to return to the Birmingham Games schedule. A fair and transparent method has been used to decide which three sports would meet the CGF Executive Board’s approval.
A panel, which conducted the review process, set key criteria, invited written submissions, and heard each sport make face-to-face presentations on financial considerations, availability of venues, potential for additional revenue streams from ticket sales and/or sponsorship, as well as alignment with the CGF Constitution and with the objectives of Games Partners.
Archery and Shooting were unsuccessful, losing out to Cricket; Para Table Tennis and Beach Volleyball. The CGF Executive Board has approved the recommendations, but these sports will have to seek the agreement of all 71 CGF members before they are added to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games programme.
Host City Picks Events at Games
To be sure, it has always depended on the host city’s comfort for a sport on the CGF list of ‘optional sports’ to be on the Commonwealth Games calendar. For the 2010 Games in Delhi, India convinced the members to let Archery and Tennis be on the schedule. These disciplines have not featured in the subsequent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and Gold Coast.
Under such circumstances, it is best that everyone concerned accepts the decision with grace and moves on. Of course, it is easy to empathise with Indian shooters and understand their angst at having to miss out on another rich harvest. After all, India’s haul of 134 medals, including 63 gold and 44 silver medals, is third behind England (175) and Australia (175) in Commonwealth Games shooting.
Need to Focus on Olympic Domination
There is no doubt that the growing depth in the sport in India – thanks to an intense focus on the development of junior shooters in the recent years – has raised visions of its squad emerging as a team to reckon with at the global level. The absence of an opportunity for easier victories must only strengthen the resolve of the Indian athletes to make an impact on the tougher platforms.
They must see this decision not as a discouragement but a spur to rise to greater heights.
The National Rifle Association of India can perhaps rethink its strategy and get the Indian Olympic Association to campaign for and convince the Commonwealth Games Federation and its constituents to make shooting the 11th core sport so that it is not left to the devices of the host city in the future. It is a long haul but one that is not impossible to achieve.
Having made a really gallant but futile effort to ensure shooting remained part of the Birmingham Games, India must now focus on making up for the reduction in medal tally and see how the gap can be bridged. Instead of lamenting the exclusion of shooting, India must now train its energies on winning medals in other disciplines and hold its place on the Commonwealth Games medals chart.
Besides, shooting as a sport will have to come to terms with not being part of the Commonwealth Games programme in 2022, accepting its fate as it is not among the core disciplines. It has to focus on its bigger, global challenges, strengthening existing calendar and adding other events to offer its athletes something to aspire for.
(This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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