This petition is to convince the President of the Commonwealth Games Federation and it's members to change archery from it's status in the Games from an optional sport to a core sport. I strongly believe that archery is worthy of being a core sport in the Commonwealth Games programme. In the Olympic Games and from many other competitions across the world it shows strong physical and mental test of abilities for those who use a bow and arrow. As an archer myself I have seen just how valuable it is. It shows all the qualities of an athlete in performance, style, technique and ability. I volunteered as a Clyde-Sider at the 20th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014 and have come to realise that the spectators have missed out on a great thrill seeking game that could have made an interesting piece of sporting history. Of all the minority sports in the games archery is one of them that stands out from the others.

Ever since the London 2012 Olympics I have committed myself to the motto of the Olympics 'to inspire a generation' and so it has inspired me to take up a sport so active and fulfilling that I have seen a whole new world to this fabulous sport involving bows and arrows. Archery is all about focus, consistency, strength, determination, ambition, accuracy, perseverance and power. Archers are a species of sports people who are born to win with their graceful art of practice and skill in propelling arrows. There are some archers out there who are so good at their game they are the best of talented sharpshooters who aim for a bar so high they are the prime example of an inspiring sportsperson. There's a saying amongst us: Aim high, aim for gold!

And so from inspiration to volunteer to champion I believe that we have a sport that can help to popularise and diversify the Commonwealth Games once more. Some people seem to think of the Commonwealth Games as a ‘budget Olympic games’ or ‘the British Queen’s games’ where the only sports are athletics, lawn bowls and para-sports. That is not true, the Commonwealth Games trump the Olympics in ways only the people who understand it can imagine. It’s diverse and all-inclusive where the para and able bodied athletes share the same arena in the same games. We have sports with deep historical links to all the nations and cultures of the Commonwealth like archery, lawn bowls, swimming, athletics, boxing, judo and cycling. Above all we have a shared set of core values in these games which all the nations believe in the common good: Humanity, Equality, Destiny.