World Archery backs IOA's Commonwealth Archery Championship proposal

New Delhi : World Archery on Monday lent its "full support" to the Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) proposal to host the Commonwealth archery event -- which is not part of the 2022 Commonwealth Games roster -- in March 2022, suggesting it to add the mixed team events which will also feature in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The government had on Saturday approved "in principle" the IOA's proposal to host the Commonwealth shooting championships and archery events.

In a letter to IOA president Narinder Batra, World Archery Secretary General Tom Dielen wrote: "We have well received a copy of your proposal to the Commonwealth Games Federation and we are pleased that India included Archery in this proposal.

"World Archery is giving its full support to this proposal to have an Archery competition in India as part of the Commonwealth Games friendship programme.

We will work together with the Indian Government, IAO and you to finalise the details and the exact programme but would suggest adding the mixed team events which will also feature in Tokyo 2020."

World Archery, the letter said, would also recognise the event for world records.

"World Archery would recognise the event for World Records as well as enter it on the World Ranking. We will promote the event among our member associations and provide the necessary technical assistance."

The biggest blow to Indian archery came in August when World Archery suspended the national federation after two warring groups -- led by veteran VK Malhotra and BVP Rao -- conducted parallel elections in Delhi and Chandigarh, which is against the international body's protocol.

The elections of the Archery Association of India (AAI) will be held on January 18 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here.

In the letter, World Archery hoped the issues will be resolved soon and they will get to work with a new president for the event.

"As you well know since you are part of the transitory committee, we are currently facing some issues with the Indian Archery Association but these should be resolved during the coming months and we will work with the newly elected President to make this event a success.

In the meantime, we will continue the dialogue with the Commonwealth Games Federation to include Archery in the programme of Commonwealth Games," it stated.

Besides archery, the IOA had withdrawn its threat to boycott the Birmingham Commonwealth Games over shooting's omission and decided to submit a formal proposal to host a shooting championships, where the medals won will be taken into consideration in the tally of the 2022 edition.

The IOA had also received backing from the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) to host the Commonwealth shooting championships in India in March 2022.

The ISSF, like World Archery, also proposed to add four mixed team events during the Commonwealth shooting championship.