Commonwealth Games Sports Program Set to be Finalised in Colombo
Recommendations pertaining to the disciplines of Race Walking and Synchronised Swimming have generated great interest, particularly given a request by the organising committee in Delhi seeking a dispensation from the CGF to exclude both disciplines from the 2010 Games.
This threat to the two disciplines comes on the back of a CGF Sports Committee recommendation that they be excluded from all Games starting from 2014.
Both recommendations will be further reviewed in Colombo following the receipt of additional submissions from within the sports themselves and also from member Commonwealth Games Associations. Any final recommendation will be submitted to the floor of the General Assembly on November 9th, which comprises sports leaders from all 71 nations and territories of the Commonwealth, for approval or otherwise.
The Sports Committee undertook a comprehensive review of the entire program for future Games following Melbourne 2006 and made its initial recommendations to the Executive Board in Kuala Lumpur in November last year.
Members were notified of a broad range of recommendations, as were international sporting federations and other interested parties, who were all given the opportunity for further comment.
The review of sports and disciplines is looking at a number of factors, including participation levels across the Commonwealth, levels of excellence, marketability and the associated costs, to stage a particular sport or discipline relative to these factors.
At this stage, from 2014, it has been recommended by the Sports Committee and endorsed by the CGF Executive Board that future editions of the Commonwealth Games consist of a minimum of 10 sports and a maximum of 17, with no more than four team sports included.
The recommendations also look to increase to ten (from five) the number of obligatory sports or core sports. Those recommended as becoming obligatory are Athletics, Aquatics (Swimming), Badminton, Boxing, Hockey (Men & Women), Lawn Bowls, Netball (Women), Squash, Rugby Sevens (Men) and Weightlifting.
If supported, future Candidate Cities would, in addition to these ten sports be able to select up to a further seven from Archery, Basketball (Men & Women), Cycling (Road and/or Mountain Bike and/or Track), Diving (as part of Aquatics), Gymnastics (Artistic and/or Rhythmic), Judo, Shooting (Clay Target and/or Fullbore and/or Pistol & Small Bore), Table Tennis, Tennis, Triathlon and Wrestling.
Race Walking and Synchronised Swimming have come under pressure because of the consistently low number of entries and the relative costs to support them.
The only time in the last two Commonwealth Games where entries in any Race Walking or Synchronised Swimming event has reached double figures was when 10 women contested the 20km walk in Manchester in 2002.
The CGF will hold a formal media conference at the conclusion of it’s General Assembly at which time all decisions taken in relation to the Sports Program will be released.
For further information, please contact CGF Media Services manager, Ian Chesterman, on +61 417 530 902 or mailto:ianchesterman@sportcom.com.au
The CGF Media website is located at www.sportcom.com.au/cgf.html