India withdraw CWG boycott threat, prepare bid for Youth Olympics in 2026
IOA
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) officially took back its threat of withdrawing from the 2022 CWG over shooting's exclusion at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in New Delhi. Officials have confirmed that India will bid to host the Youth Olympics in 2026, before CWG and Asian Games in 2030.
After posing a threat to rob several Indian athletes of their legitimate right to compete at the upcoming Commonwealth Games (CWG) for weeks on end, IOA president Narinder Batra and secretary-general Rajeev Mehta has informed that the Olympic body of their change of mind. The IOA is preparing to submit a proposal from the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) to host a Commonwealth shooting championships in India three months prior to the Games. Whether such a proposal is accepted by the CGF and Games' organising committee (OC), the threat of withdrawing from the CWG no longer exists. As per a TOI report, CGF accepting the proposal to add the medals won at the CW shooting championships to the CWG medal tally isnāt entirely out of the question.
"In the AGM, we have taken back the decision to withdraw from the 2022 CWG. Our country's contingent will go for the CWG," Mehta said.
"We don't want to pre-empt what is going to happen in March 2020. Everything has happened in good faith (the discussion with CGF president Louise Martin and accompanying delegates during their visit to India recently) and we want to hope for the best," Batra said.
Batra said that the AGM also passed a resolution to request the CGF to host a Commonwealth Championships of archery and added its approval to submit an expression of interest to the government to formally bid for both CWG and Youth Olympics in 2026, and CWG and Asian Games in 2030.Ā
"The first preference is Youth Olympics for sure. If we get to host the CWG as well, we will do both. If we get to host only the CWG in 2026, then we can't bid for back-to-back CWG. Then, for 2030, we will bid for the Asiad. We will also bid for the 2032 Summer Olympics. The House passed a resolution regarding this," Batra added.
