Shooting competitions were confirmed for the 2026 Commonwealth Games programme, that was to be held in Victoria, Australia. In July 2023, Victoria announced it had cancelled its plans to host the games citing an escalation in its cost projections relative to initial estimations.[1][2] The Games were scheduled to take place from the 17 to 29 March 2026. As of July 2023, the Commonwealth Games Federation were seeking a new host.
Background
In July 2022, the organising committee for the 2026 Commonwealth Games released the sporting programme for the games. Like Birmingham 2022 it did not include shooting.[3] Following the controversy surrounding the exclusion of Shooting at Birmingham, India expressed strong disappointment and raised the matter during the Birmingham Games with visiting organisers from Victoria.[4]
In August 2022 the Expression of Interest (EOI) period for additional sports opened and Shooting Australia announced that the ISSF had submitted a proposal for shooting.[5][6][7][8] Like the proposals for the 2022 Games, the programme was heavily restricted. The proposal included just four disciplines - Trap, Air Rifle, Air Pistol and Fullbore Rifle.[9] This dropped cartridge pistol, 50m rifle, and skeet. Para-Shooting events were also included in the bid, though it was not specified whether these were limited to airgun disciplines or included Para-Trap, which had demonstrated at the 2017 CSF(ED) Championships in Wales.
In October 2022, the inclusion of Shooting was confirmed, but without Fullbore Rifle.[10][11][12] It was later announced that Shooting would be held in the Gippsland region, east of Melbourne.[13][14] The proposal had originally been based in Greater Bendigo, north of Melbourne. This was to use the Wellsford Fullbore Rifle Range (which also hosted the 2006 Commonwealth Games fullbore events). With the exclusion of Fullbore Rifle, the events were no longer tied to the Bendigo area.
^"INTERNATIONAL SHOOTING BODY MAKES SUBMISSION FOR 2026 COMMONWEALTH GAMES INCLUSION". Shooting Australia. 19 August 2022. Archived from the original on 7 October 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022. Overnight, the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) submitted an Expression of Interest to the Victorian Government and Commonwealth Games Federation for consideration of the inclusion of Shooting in the 2026 Commonwealth Games program under the Phase 2 intake of sports.
^"SHOOTING TO BE INCLUDED IN VIC 2026 COMMONWEALTH GAMES". Shooting Australia. 5 October 2022. Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022. The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has today announced that Shooting will be included in the Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games event program. The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) received confirmation that Shooting's expression of interest (EOI) had been successful and that Clay Target (Trap), 10m Air Pistol, 10m Air Rifle (Small-Bore) and Para Shooting would be included in the competition program for Victoria 2026. Unfortunately, the proposed Full-Bore event could not be accommodated despite being part of Shooting's EOI.
