Dropping shooting from 2022 CWG huge setback for India: Bindra

TIL Desk Sports/ Dropping shooting from 2022 Commonwealth Games will be a huge setback for India, especially for its young shooters, said the country’s only individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra.

“No doubt, it will be a huge setback for the country and our shooters. It will hit hard on the up and coming shooters,” Bindra said at the sidelines of a felicitation ceremony of India’s Olympic medallists by the visiting International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach.

The event was organised by the Indian Olympic Association at a city hotel last night. “Shooting is an optional sport and they (Birmingham organisers) say they don’t have the facilities to host shooting events. Had Durban (South Africa) hosted the 2022 CWG, shooting would have been there,” he added.

Durban was to originally host the 2022 CWG but it later expressed its inability to host the Games due to financial problems. The Commonwealth Games Federation later awarded the 2022 CWG to Birmingham.