Birmingham, June 20 (PTI): Women's cricket is set to be part of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games as the CGF on Thursday nominated its inclusion in the 2022 edition.
The nomination was made at the Executive Board meeting of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) in Birmingham.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) and England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), which had submitted their bid in November, welcomed the decision.
"The decision, which needs to be ratified by CGF members, follows a comprehensive bidding process, where the ICC, in partnership with the ECB, presented the compelling case for women's cricket to become part of the
Commonwealth Games sport programme," said the ICC in a release.
Cricket has made just one appearance at the CWG previously, with men playing in 1998 in Kuala Lumpur, where South Africa stood on top of the podium.
"The application for inclusion of women's cricket for Birmingham 2022 is part of the global ambition for cricket to inspire and empower women and girls around the world and to drive greater levels of inclusivity and opportunity throughout the sport," the statement added.
ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney was ecstatic.
"We are absolutely delighted that women's cricket has been nominated for inclusion in Birmingham 2022. I'd like to thank everyone at the CGF and Birmingham 2022 for the nomination and it would be a real honour to become part of the Commonwealth Games family.
"We are committed to accelerating the growth of the women's game and breaking down barriers and gender stereotypes along the way. We share our ambition to deliver greater equality, fairness and opportunity in sport with the Commonwealth Games Federation."
Tom Harrison, ECB Chief Executive Officer, added: "It would present us with a wonderful opportunity to capitalise on the global reach of these Games to showcase the very best of women's cricket and in doing so inspire a new generation of women and girls from around the world to start playing the game."
Beach Volleyball and para table tennis were also nominated for inclusion in the 2022 edition.
Shooting left out in CWG prog.
Shooting was left out of the 2022 Commonwealth Games programme on Thursday, dealing a big blow to India which won as many as 16 medals, including seven gold, at the 2018 edition in Gold Coast.
The Executive Board of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) met and approved the inclusion of women's cricket, beach volleyball and para table tennis into the Games programme for the Birmingham edition. The inclusion of these three sports will now need to be ratified by 51 percent of the CGF members next month.
"Our recommendation of adding women's cricket, beach volleyball and Para table tennis is the result of a thorough review and we believe these sports would help us to enhance the existing programme and reach new audiences, while showcasing the sports to our local community, spectators and fans across the world, watching on TV," said Ian Reid, CEO of Birmingham 2022.
Last year, the National Rifle Association of India president Raninder Singh, wanted the Indian government to boycott the 2022 CWG if shooting was dropped from the programme.
The absence of shooting is likely to make a big dent into India's medals tally in the 2022 edition. Indian shooters bagged 16 medals from the Gold Coast Games including seven gold, four silver and 5 bronze.
India has traditionally done well in shooting which has been part of every CWG since 1966, except the 1970 edition in Edinburgh.
