Shooting 'not a part' of Hamilton's proposed 2026 Commonwealth Games roster

HAMILTON: Shooting is not a part of the roster proposed by the bid committee of Hamilton city, the frontrunner for hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games, the development coming not long after the huge furore caused by the sport's exclusion from 2022 Birmingham edition.

With the exception of the 1970 edition in Edinburgh, shooting, which is not among the core sports in the CWG programme, has been a part of every Games since Kingston 1966.

Hamilton 2026 Games bid committee chairman Lou Frapporti confirmed during a virtual community forum that shooting is not part of its proposal.

"At present I don't believe that shooting is a part of these Games," Frapporti said according to insidethegames.com.

"One of the challenges we've had is working with the Commonwealth Games Federation and Commonwealth sports to come up with a Games programme that is modified and a little less ambitious than their usual Games programme," he added.

The Hamilton bid does not yet have government support after it switched its attention to host the Games from 2030 to 2026, following a request from the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).

Earlier, the city had wished to bid for the 2030 CWG, which will mark the centenary Games after it hosted the first edition in 1930.

Government approval had already been obtained for the 2030 Games bid.

The CGF had said Hamilton 2026 would need a commitment from municipal, provincial and federal partners before the end of September in order to maintain the "exclusive" backing it has given to the bid.

The deadline has been extended, according to reports.

The sport was also not part of the roster for the 2022 Birmingham Games but shooting powerhouse India convinced the CGF to include it in the roster after offering to host the events in Chandigarh.

The Indian city will now host the 2022 Commonwealth Games' shooting and archery events.

The CGF executive board confirmed a January 2022 date for the two competitions, six months before the English city of Birmingham hosts the full event from July that year.

The CGF added that both will be two separately organised and funded events.

The Birmingham 2022 full medal table will include results from Chandigarh events a week after the closing ceremony.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had also expressed interest in hosting either the 2026 or 2030 edition of the Games.

"The entire purpose of putting this event on as a social impact initiative was to reduce costs," Frapporti said.

"The question of what will ultimately be involved in the final sports programme is something that will have to be ascertained fully and finally as the process evolves, depending upon the appetite of the City, other municipalities, the Federal and Provincial Government and the private sector to financially support the inclusion of other sports.

"Because at the end of the day we understand that the overriding concern is cost and risk - and in all regards all of us are working very hard to be as inclusive to as many sports as possible, but also trying to balance the cost associated with the delivery of those events in 2026."

The announcement in January 2018 that shooting would not feature in the 2022 Birmingham Games because of a lack of local facilities caused a furore in India, with the IOA threatening to boycott the Games before a common agreeable decision was arrived at.