Setback for India: Shooting snubbed for 2022 Commonwealth Games; will cricket be included?

Shooting has always been one of India's forte at the Commonwealth Games. India have won a number of medals, but there is some discouraging news for the sport as the quadrennial event in 2022 is going to be held in Birmingham will not witness shooting. 

Birmingham officially replaced the original venue Durban, who had been stripped of the right as hosts due to financial constraints.

The decision (of shooting being ignored) is yet to be finalised and the shooting federations of the various countries might push for its inclusion.

However, there are chances of T20 mix-gender sports being introduced as well.

There seems to be some logical reason for them not including shooting as Birmingham does not possess Olympic-standard facilities. The closest shooting venue for Birmingham is Surrey for shooting, which is an optional sport. Judo, table tennis, wrestling, gymnastics, diving, cycling and 3v3 basketball are the optional sports chosen for 2022 CWG.

"It's a decision that the Birmingham bid as a whole has made rather than just Commonwealth Games England. The Birmingham bid made an assessment of all the optional sports and they picked the sport which were enabled to take place close to Birmingham," Indian Express quoted Peter Hannon, spokesperson of Commonwealth Games England as saying.

"We'd like as many people to be a part of the Games but obviously, you are limited on the number of athletes and sport, so that forced some difficult choices."

The Express reports that the Commonwealth Games Federation is interested in having cricket during the games.

The venue should not be a problem as Edgbaston in Birmingham is one of the popular venues across England. Though mix-gender cricket, which has not been tried at the international level, one would not be surprised if we could witness a women's or men's T20 only as well.