NEW DELHI: India can pull out of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham to protest the exclusion of shooting and archery (recurve) from the Games' programme, Indian Olympic Association 's (IOA) secretary general, Rajeev Mehta , has warned. The IOA could take a decision in this regard within a month's time or so at its Executive Council (EC) meeting in Delhi, Mehta said.

"Yes, we are pretty serious about it (the threat to boycott the Games). India will suffer big time by this decision. Shooting has been our biggest source of medal at the CWG. The sport has a rich history and legacy. Yes, we know that a decision has been taken and it would be difficult to reverse it. But still, it must be ratified by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) members who are meeting next month. Let's see what happens," Mehta told TOI over phone from London.

The CGF's executive board had, on Thursday, recommended dropping of shooting and archery (recurve) from the 2022 edition, while approving the inclusion of women's T20 cricket, para table tennis and beach volleyball instead. The decision must be ratified by 51 percent of the CGF's 71 members, which looks like a mere formality.

At the 2018 Gold Coast CWG, Indian shooters returned with a rich haul of 16 medals, including seven gold. Archery featured in only two editions of the CWG, the last one being the Delhi Games. India had won eight medals in the 2010 edition, including three gold.

In Gold Coast medals' tally, India were placed third (66 medals), behind leaders Australia (198) and England (136). However, with the exclusion of shooting, there's a possible scenario that countries like Canada and New Zealand might overtake India in the medals tally.

Reacting to the development, ace Indian shooter Heena Sidhu told TOI, "It's going to be quite a bad scenario for India. Our medal tally will be low without shooting. I believe the organisers have done it to strengthen Britain's position in the medals' tally and present a strong image of their country in front of the home crowd. They have cut down on events where we were expected to fare better."

Heena supported the IOA's call to boycott the Games "so as to send a strong message to the CGF that India is no pushover".

AAI's president of one faction, BVP Rao, expressed his displeasure over the decision too. "IOA president Narinder Batra should have been campaigning in London for the retention of shooting and inclusion of archery in the CWG than campaigning in Lausanne for his own election of the IOC membership," he said.

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In Video: Shooting excluded from 2022 Commonwealth Games programme