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We have no space for shooting anymore: Commonwealth Games Federation

The President’s statement comes after Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had said that it could boycott from the Commonwealth Games.

We have no space for shooting anymore: Commonwealth Games Federation

India's Heena Sindhu poses with the gold medal (C) she won at the 2018 Commonwealth Games (Photo: Twitter/@DDNewsLive)

President of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) Federation, Louis Martin, emphasised that hosting shooting across all various disciplines was practically not possible because of logistical issues. This also implies that the Commonwealth Games will not include shooting in the next edition of the sporting fest.

The President’s statement comes after Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had said that it could boycott from the Commonwealth Games. They had even asked Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Kiren Rijiju’s approval for the same.

Notably, shooting has been one sport in which India has bagged a lot of medals in the past. India had won as many as 16 medals in the discipline in the last Commonwealth Games alone. India had won a total of 50 medals and this particular discipline alone gave India seven golds.

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It was in this context that the exclusion of the sport created chaos in India and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narinder Batra suggested that India should boycott from Birmingham Games.

However, the Commonwealth Games Federation looked unaffected by it and had stuck to their decision.

“A sport has to earn the right to be in the Games,” Martin told Britain’s Daily as reported by Reuters.

“Shooting has never been a compulsory sport. We have to work through it but shooting will not be in the Games. We have no space anymore,” she added.

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