The Indian Olympic Association president Narinder Batra’s call that India should pull out of the Commonwealth Games permanently has divided the sports fraternity. Batra had reasoned that the standard of competition at the Commonwealth Games is not high, so it was a waste of time and money for everyone involved. Instead of competing at CWG, Indian teams should plan for better competitions and prepare for the Olympics, he said.

The boycott call by Batra came in the backdrop of a frosty relationship between Louise Martin of the Commonwealth Games Federation and IOA, after the former dropped shooting sports from the 2022 Birmingham CWG programme.

The IOA president’s good friend and Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said he was against pulling out of CWG. “I don’t agree with his statement at all,” Singh said

“Commonwealth is a big stage for a few of our athletes. There was a time that Canada used to beat us in wrestling. But now when we are beating a few of them, so where is the harm in it?” he added.