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Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has made a strong representation for the inclusion of Archery, Wrestling and Kabaddi as regular competitions in Commonwealth Games, at the two-day Commonwealth Games Federation's Asia and Oceania Regional Meet which began here in Brisbane, Australia on Sunday.
The Indian delegation, led by IOA President PT Usha along with its Acting CEO and Joint Secretary Kalyan Chaubey and Executive Council Member Lt Gen Harpal Singh (Retd.) met the CGF President Dame Louise Martin and her team to discuss and deliberate topics for the development of Indian sports with regards to the Strategic Plan being proposed by CGF. PT Usha said, "I welcome the steps taken on the return of Shooting in the 2026 Victoria Commonwealth Games. At the same time, we have sought the intervention of the CGF leadership to make Archery, Wrestling and Kabaddi as part of the Games competition roster in future." CGF and the Commonwealth Games Australia had earlier unveiled the full sports programme for Victoria 2026 CWG, featuring 20 sports and 26 disciplines, including nine fully integrated para-sports. Kalyan Chaubey, while expressing satisfaction on the discussion the Indian delegation had with CGF today, said "Shooting has been India's strongest sport and its return in 2026 CWG is a welcome development for India. I'm sure that the inclusion of para-shooting will also add to India's medal tally. I believe we have made a strong case for India to have Wrestling and Archery back at CWG. The Wrestling results at Birmingham Games is a testimony of India's dominance in the sport with an all-time second best to Canada since the history of the Games." "These meetings are hugely important to us as an organisation, both to share our vision for the future and to gain further understanding of how we can support our National Sports Federations in their development," added PT Usha. In addition to workshops and extensive discussion around the forthcoming Strategic Plan, which will be launched later in the year, there were updates on development, a review of regional plans and sharing of best practices between delegates. Jeroen Weimar, CEO of Victoria 2026, also attended the meeting, providing an update on the progress of the next Commonwealth Games, which takes place across the State of Victoria in March 2026. (ANI)
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