By Abhishek Upadhyay

New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS): Indian Olympic Association chief Narinder Dhruv Batra had said earlier that if Shooting is not included in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022 then the nation should boycott the event, following which the association's General Secretary Rajiv Mehta had termed it as a personal opinion.

Now Mehta has written a letter to Batra giving his clarification over his statement, a copy of which has been accessed by IANS. Batra has been fighting to include Shooting in the 2022 CWG but was jolted when Mehta had gone against him on the issue.

Times of India.com published a story on Friday where Mehta had said: "No call has been taken on boycotting the games. We will have a meeting on the issue and as far as the IOA is concerned, there is no point of personal opinions. The chief may be asked to boycott the games but that should be taken as personal opinion."Taking a u-turn on his comment, Mehta in his letter has now said that he always stands with IOA chief Batra

"I read the article which you had shared on whatsapp. As being circulated, I once again clarify that I had not given such comments to any reporter. I myself is shocked over the report as you are. Even the treasurer was with me at that time and I had just talked on the executive committee's meeting."

"I always stand with you and always say that you are a famous and hard-working sports administrator and whenever any reporter calls me, I always laud your effort for your work for the country and the IOA," he added.

Significantly, shooting has been scrapped from the 2022 CWG following which Indian shooters and athletes have raised the issue to boycott the event. Batra had said if the sport is not included in the games then India could think of giving the event a miss.