The Commonwealth Games Federation has brokered a deal with a consortium led by Commonwealth Games India. The deal sponsored by the National Rifle Association of India, World Archery, International Shooting Sport Federation and the Indian government has agreed to host archery and shooting in January 2022 as separate events from the main Games.

This is very beneficial to the growth of archery and I think it can help with this campaign. But it also highlights something that has troubled the participating nations in Commonwealth Games. The sports are not culturally connected and the nations that go to these games must be able to play certain sports that reflect the meaning of the Commonwealth.

Only last year when Birmingham decided not to host shooting and archery at these India threatened to boycott the CWG because by rejecting these sports it would undermine their medal-winning potential. I understand this from my own perspective of the CGF and it needs to start reorganising it's list of sports. I highly value the cultural connections of the Commonwealth and believe that the civic and cultural aspect of these games needs to be upheld in the sports played. After all the Commonwealth Games isn't just a sports event, its a missionary service and unitary festival of the Commonwealth of Nations that celebrates civic national pride amongst it's member states.

That might sound a bit like political affiliation to you but if you care to look at the purpose of these games then you'll see what I mean. Most sports fans and athletes rarely seem to know or value these multi-sport events as an objective to achieve world peace, economic unity, civil justice, free trade, representative democracy and individual liberty. It might not seem so obvious in general but it is expressed in terms of sporting achievements. Nelson Mandela once said that 'sport has the power to change the world' and it speaks in a language that youth understand.

I haven't been running this campaign well due to difficulties trying to contact the decision-makers and this campaign has been hard. It's difficult trying to be heard by the president and making contact with the Executive Board of the CGF but I am working on it still. With persistence, I can make contact eventually and see through this campaign. I have connections to people in governments that are local and national. My MP is a member of an all-party parliamentary group on Commonwealth Affairs.

The sports need to be overhauled and reorganised to reflect the Commonwealth's sporting tastes and cultural connections. When I was blogging for an archery company I wrote this piece about how culturally enshrined archery is to India by telling the story of an Indian warrior called Gandiva who had a magical bow that could save his tribe from devastation. I would like to see the core and optional categories are gone and replaced with permanent cultural affiliated sports. Archery, shooting, athletics, swimming, cricket, rowing, badminton, squash, judo, gymnastics, rugby, cycling and lawn bowls are examples.

Now there is more that needs to be done than just circulating a petition for the value of archery to the Commonwealth. We need to promote it yet again but this time get our local politicians and community leaders to value sports and press them to get the Commonwealth Games Federation to reorganise their sports. India is showing an example to the sporting community and the Commonwealth that archery has value to bring people together. Archery might not be the most lavish and profitable sport but it's not all about the money when it comes to the Commonwealth Games. It's about valuing people and their physical and mental wellbeing.

Having done this campaign for so long I have come to think that maybe it's time I got more people to get in touch with me and to talk about effective strategies for getting the Commonwealth Games to take this petition and my case to them. With 3800+ signatures they should agree to see me.