On Monday 27 February, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) officially confirmed that a Commonwealth Archery and Shooting Championships will take place in India in 2022 after a proposal to stage the event was approved by the CGF Executive Board at their meeting in London which took place on February 21-23. The Board highlighted the opportunity for this innovative model to promote and encourage the development and hosting of sport throughout the Commonwealth.
The proposal came from Commonwealth Games India (CGI), supported by the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI), the Government of India, the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) and World Archery, and was considered and discussed with Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Partners prior to the CGF Executive Board decision.
The event will be held in Chandigarh, the capital of the northern Indian states of Punjab and Haryana, and is scheduled to be staged in January 2022.
The decision confirmed that shooting and archery event in Chandigarh and the main Commonwealth Games event in Birmingham (both in 20220) will be two separately organised and funded Commonwealth Sport events.
As part of the proposal, one week following the Closing Ceremony of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, the CGF will issue a medal table that includes results from the Chandigarh 2022 Commonwealth Archery and Shooting Championships, as a further and final legitimate ranking of competing nations and territories from the respective competitions.
CGF President Dame Louise Martin said: “I am delighted that we have approved India’s ambitious proposal to host a Commonwealth Archery and Shooting Championships in Chandigarh during 2022..
“Commonwealth archery and shooting athletes now have an unprecedented opportunity to compete in an elite event that will showcase the very best of Commonwealth Sport and add value to the Commonwealth Sports Movement.
“The CGF would like to thank the CGI, the NRAI, the Government of India and the entire sporting community of India on the significant efforts they have taken to submit an innovative proposal with the ambition of strengthening Commonwealth Sport.
“I would like to give particular thanks to CGI President Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sport Kiren Rijiju and NRAI President Raninder Singh for their leadership across this proposal.”
At STS, we are delighted that a solution has been found to enable shooting to be included back in the games and we hope that this move by CGI and CGF will also increase the potential for India to bid to host the Games again in either 2026 or 2030.
Scotland has a phenomenal history of success in the Games since the inclusion of the sport in 1966 (excluding 1970), winning 51 medals since them, including an incredible 6 medals at the most Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast in 2018.
While this announcement will predominantly benefit the ISSF (and hopefully ICFRA) events, the inclusion of shooting is one of the few times the profile of the sport is raised in the mainstream (and Scottish athletes are able to compete for Scotland, rather than Great Britain) which brings a number of benefits, both directly and indirectly, to all forms of shooting.
Discussions are already underway with our partners at sportscotland and Commonwealth Games Scotland (CGS) around what support can be provided to ensure Scotland maintains its excellent record in shooting in the Commonwealth.
This announcement is an excellent move forward and one which we are sure will inspire athletes. As such, STS will review its selection policy (in partnership with CGS) to ensure this can be out as early as possible, but this will not be possible to finalise until there is more clarity around the events to be included.
Finally, STS would like to thank all our partners in the shooting and commonwealth communities for finding this solution and we look forward to a successful 2022.