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India is all set to kick off its Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022 campaign on Friday, July 29, with a contingent of almost 213 athletes set to compete for what is considered India's best opportunity to bag a lot of medals. In the last CWG in Australia in 2018, the contingent bagged a massive 66 medals, the third best in the final tally. And the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) acting president is aiming for a similar result, especially with the exclusion of shooting and archery this time around.
"Well, shooting would have definitely increased our medals in the tally. But we have done a study with the Sports Authority of India (SAI). We're hoping to get anything between 60-65 medals, which is a good number. But definitely, we should be at a much higher level. We should be in the top three at the end of the competition."
See the full interview here (HINDI):
‘Will work on bringing back shooting’
Many expect India's medals to reduce with the absence of both shooting and wrestling at the event. And in another blow, even wrestling has been dropped along with shooting for the next games in Victoria, Australia, in 2026. But Anil is confident of working towards restoring both sports soon. "You see wrestling is a part of the 2022 Birmingham Games, shooting is not, unfortunately. At the moment, wrestling is also being excluded from the Games, which the Organising Committee has done up to now. We had a meeting of the committee and this issue was raised by me personally.
"There are six more sports, which are under consideration and the international federation has been asked to express their interest by August 19, and then the nations can make the presentations to the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee... Because India is large country with tremendous broadcasting possibilities. There are many people who would like to watch the Games before going to school or would like to work with recording this. So given the commodity, it would be a great opportunity for Australia to use both wrestling and shooting, so just have to keep pushing," he added.
On the opening ceremony and the excellent facilities
Sharing his thoughts on the opening ceremony, which will be led by Manpreet Singh and PV Sindhu, the IOA acting president said, "The opening ceremony will include 164 sports personnel including support staff. So, all the sports persons who are keen to participate will be part of the opening ceremony, and the remaining slots will go to support staff, who are with their teams."
He was also impressed with the provided facilities, especially heaping praise on the volunteers, "Well, as per my knowledge, by and large, the training facilities are good. The food is reasonably priced, and the accommodation is at the university. This should be pretty adequate for the games. And the volunteers are excellent as well!"
See the full video here (ENG):
