Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju today said in New Delhi that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) cannot take a unilateral decision about pulling out of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games following the omission of shooting from the event's roster.

Last week, the Commonwealth Games Federation left out shooting from the 2022 Birmingham Games in its Executive Board meeting while recommending the inclusion of three new sports.

The decision is a big blow to India which had won as many as 16 shooting medals out of a total haul off 66 in the 2018 Gold Coast CWG and the IOA said it is mulling to withdraw from the 2022 event.  

However, Mr Rijiju said, his ministry will discuss the issue in details with the shooting federation and IOA before taking a decision.

He made it clear that he will not tolerate mismanagement of national federations and will take action if the interests of athletes are affected.

Some sports federations, including Archery Association of India and Gymnastics Federation of India have been experiencing factional feuds. Mr Rijiju said, his prime concern is to protect the interests of these sports and the players.