Olympic silver medallist Ravi Dahiya on Friday expressed disappointment after wrestling was not included in the initial sports programme list for Commonwealth Games 2026 which will be played in Victoria in Australia.
Apart from wrestling, sporting disciplines like archery and shooting have also been dropped from the initial sports programme list.
"We have been winning medals in wrestling. We won medals in 2014, and 2018 CWG games and we are preparing really hard for 2022 games in England. It is very disheartening that it has been removed from the Games but our Federation WFI is trying to bring it back," Indian wrestler Ravi Dahiya told ANI.
In Commonwealth Games, 2018, India bagged 16 medals in shooting including seven gold, four silver and five bronze while in wrestling India won 12 medals which included five gold, three silver and four bronze.
"We are preparing really well for Commonwealth Games. We have Asian Championship in Mongolia and we are flying after 3-4 days. After that, we have trials for Commonwealth Games and Asian Games," Dahiya said.
The disciplines that the Commonwealth Games organising committee has included in the initial list are aquatics, athletics, badminton, boxing, beach volleyball, T20 cricket, cycling, gymnastics, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, and rugby sevens, squash, table tennis, triathlon and weightlifting. However, the organisers have clarified that they will add a few more disciplines later this year which means India's archery, shooting and wrestling Federations can request them to include them in the Games.
( With inputs from ANI )
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