Olympic silver medalist and badminton star PV Sindhu has said that she is ready to support Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and government if India decides to  boycott the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham.  IOA is mulling a CWC 2022 boycott after shooting was left out from the events list. India Could Boycott 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games After Shooting Dropped As a Sport, Reveals IOA Chief Narinder Batra.

“Support what Indian olympic association & our government decide. I NEVER said that I urge IOA not to shun CWG. Nation always comes first. Jai hind,” tweeted Sindhu.

After Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) had decided to drop shooting as a sport from the CWG 2022, IOA president Narinder Batra revealed that India could boycott the games. In a mail to the Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, Batra wrote, “this is with reference to the press statement of Secretary-General IOA in the month of May 2019 regarding the intention of IOA to most probably not participate in CWG 2022. The issues have also been informally discussed by IOA amongst some of the colleagues in IOA and they also agree with the views expressed by IOA Secretary-General (Rajeev Mehta).” BWF World Ranking 2019: PV Sindhu Retains 5th Spot, Akane Yamaguchi is The New No. 1 Women's Singles Badminton Player.

Here's PV Sindhu's Tweet

Apart from Sindhu, shooter Heena Sidhu backed IOA’s idea of boycott “I know boycott is a very strong word to use because for one sport we can not let others suffer. But at the same time, if we do not stand for shooting now, it could happen to some other sport,” Sidhu was quoted as saying by ANI. Shooting Dropped From CWG 2022 Events List: Sakshi Malik Supports Shooters, but Opposes Boycott of Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Meanwhile, Ian Reid, Chief Executive Officer for Birmingham 2022 is a statement said, “we want every single nation and territory eligible to compete in the Commonwealth Games, including India, to be in Birmingham in 2022. They are all assured an extremely warm welcome from a city and a region that is home to 187 nations.”

“It’s important to remember that shooting is not a core Commonwealth Games Federation sport, it is optional. In December 2017, it was not included in Birmingham’s bid to host the 2022 Games.

“In September 2018, five sports that were not included in the original bid – shooting, archery, beach volleyball, Para table tennis and cricket – expressed their desire to be part of the Games. So the Birmingham 2022 Board committed to conducting a review, offering each sport a chance to be included.

“The process we conducted was fair, logical and transparent and the assessment panel included senior representatives from key Games partners including Birmingham 2022, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Commonwealth Games England and Birmingham City Council.” The statement read.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 31, 2019 12:42 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).