On 20 July Shooting Australia launched a social media campaign entitled ‘Shoot for the Games 2026’ as the next step in Shooting’s bid to be included in the Victoria (VIC) 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Earlier this month, the Victorian Government released the dates for the VIC 2026 Commonwealth Games (17-29 March 2026), together with the process and timelines for the assessment and inclusion of additional ‘Phase 2’ sports to the competition program.
Shooting Australia has been working closely with its national member organisations, the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), World Shooting Para Sports (WSPS) and other national federations from across the Commonwealth to prepare Shooting’s proposal for inclusion in VIC 2026, which is due for submission in August.
In the meantime, Shooting Australia is calling on the target shooting community to get behind ‘Shoot for the Games 2026’ by sharing the key messaging across their social media platforms. Shooting Australia’s Chief Executive Officer, Adam Sachs, said:
We are really keen to make sure that our target shooting community finds its collective voice and expresses its strong desire for Shooting’s inclusion in VIC 2026.
Sachs continued:
Our primary objective is to remind the Victorian Government, the Commonwealth Games Association and the wider public that the target shooting sports have a strong and important presence in the community especially across regional Victoria, and a critical role to play in the medal success of the Australian Team at a home Games in 2026.
The ISSF will submit Shooting’s proposal to the Commonwealth Games Federation by 19 August. An announcement regarding Phase 2 sports to be included is anticipated in October.
Press Release by Shooting Australia on 20 July 2022
At Scottish Target Shooting we welcome this work by Shooting Australia to mobilise the shooting community both in domestically and internationally. The STS COO, Oliver Barsby said:
Performance shooting is something only a handful of athletes and coaches get to experience but our sport’s involvement in the Commonwealth Games gives a visibility and profile to the sport and its athletes that we rarely get. The spotlight that comes on our sport when it is involved in a big multi-sport Games event, combined with the even rarer opportunity to compete as Scotland on the international stage, benefits all levels and all disciplines of shooting so the impact of getting our sport included in 2026 should not be overlooked or underestimated. Let’s all get behind this campaign, no matter where you shoot, what discipline you shoot or what level you shoot at!
STS calls upon its members to get behind this campaign and share the key messages where possible, using the hashtags #ShootForTheGames2026 and #commonwealthgames2026 and tagging @CommGamesAus to show the support the movement is getting.