Olympic debacle has put fear in my mind, says Jitu Rai

By Anmol Gurung  |  Express News Service  |   Published: 12th January 2017

Shooter Jitu Rai (File|AFP)


CHENNAI: When Jitu Rai was winning medals at will, the pistol ace seemed like a superhuman. With zen-like focus, the unassuming Armyman had shot down many firsts for India in the process. 

A lot of followers would bask in amazement as the 29-year-old plucked one medal after another, making it look like a child’s play. During the build-up to the Rio Olympics, Jitu’s name would be one of the first to pop up while discussing India’s biggest medal prospects. 

Unfortunately, Jitu’s journey in Rio turned out to be an anticlimax.
It was a harsh lesson for the Nepal-born shooter, who had crossed the border in search of better life and picked up the sport by chance. The usually calm nerves betrayed him then and he was unable to deliver when it mattered the most. All those hours of hard work and past performances counted for nothing. 

Looking ahead, he has a cautious approach. He seems more human but his dedication to the sport remains undiminished. 

“I have fears in my mind too. There was a lot of questioning post the Olympics. The Rio debacle is dead and buried but it is a strong reminder that things can go wrong,” he told Express.
“I’m not sure what will happen in future. Just mulling over the matter won’t take me far,” added the diminutive shooter.

After that heartbreaking tale, he was seen in action during the National Championships in December, last year. The Rio aftershock was evident as he failed to live up to his standards. “I have had ups and downs in recent times. My performance in the National Championships in December) was not up to the mark. I have to buckle up,” he conceded. Jitu will be in action during the selection trials in the next few days in Pune. The trials are being held for the upcoming ISSF World Cup to be held in New Delhi.

“We will be hosting the World Cup for the first time so I really want to give my best. Many fans will turn up with big expectations and the media will also be keeping close tabs on us. A lot of focus will be on us.
“When you are competing outside, there is no pressure. You are on your own.”

Things could get worse for Jitu if the recent ISSF Athletes Committee recommendations are approved. The panel has sent a proposal to scrap 50m pistol — Jitu’s pet event. “I have written to the ISSF to give a rethink on the matter. I hope they don’t scrap the same.”

Ask him about his New Year’s resolution, and he says, it is about becoming a wiser shooter. “One thing I’m really keen on is winning the World Championship. I also want to do  well in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. I know I have the skills to achieve the same but I need to work really hard,” he signed off.


Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl
Source - http://www.newindianexpress.com/

Treino sozinho, mesma renda e volta à faculdade: a versão 2017 de Felipe Wu

05/01/2017 07h30 - Atualizado em 05/01/2017 15h20

Medalhista de prata na Rio 2016 perdeu técnico colombiano, não conseguiu novos patrocinadores e retomou os estudos em Engenharia Aeroespacial pensando no futuro

Por Helena RebelloRio de Janeiro

Conquistar a primeira medalha do Brasil na Rio 2016 e quebrar um jejum de 96 anos sem pódio olímpico no tiro esportivo parecia o bastante para mudar a vida de Felipe Wu. A prata de fato trouxe muita visibilidade ao atleta, mas o reconhecimento do público e da mídia não se transformou em uma melhor estrutura ou novos patrocínios. Pelo contrário. Passada a Olimpíada, o atleta de 24 anos voltou a treinar sozinho no Hebraica, sem a orientação de um técnico, e segue com apenas uma arma para competir. Assim, retomou a faculdade de Engenharia Aeroespacial, já vislumbrando uma carreira paralela no futuro. 

+ Já ouviu falar do Projeto Tóquio? Conheça 10 atletas que podem brilhar até 2020

Felipe Wu exibe medalha de prata: fim de jejum de 96 anos sem pódio olímpico brasileiro no tiro esportivo (Getty Images)

Depois de subir ao pódio nos Jogos, Wu foi procurado por um fabricante de munições de armas de fogo. Mas as conversas iniciais não avançaram depois do evento. O paulista tem apenas o apoio de uma fabricante de chumbinho e do Exército, do qual é atleta desde 2013, além de receber o Bolsa Pódio, benefício do governo federal, por ser medalhista olímpico – desde junho do ano passado ele já se enquadrava na mesma categoria por ter alcançado a liderança do ranking mundial na pistola de ar (10m).

A principal mudança na estrutura de treinos de Wu foi a saída do técnico colombiano Bernardo Tobar, que passou apenas um ano vinculado à Confederação Brasileira de Tiro Esportivo (CBTE). Apesar do pouco tempo de trabalho, o treinador foi muito elogiado. Para Wu, as pequenas nuances apontadas por Tobar o ajudaram muito na reta final da preparação olímpica.

- Com certeza a maior mudança foi a saída do meu técnico, que voltou para a Colômbia. Eu voltei a treinar sozinho, totalmente por conta própria. Era muito importante ter alguém acompanhando o dia a dia, vendo os detalhes, se fazemos algo diferente – disse o atleta, acrescentando que acredita que a situação será revista e Tobar retornará ao cargo.

Tobar, de camisa verde, foi responsável por lapidar Felipe Wu rumo à prata na Rio 2016 (Foto: André Durão)

O aspecto mais positivo da medalha olímpica foi o carinho dos fãs. Hoje Wu é reconhecido por onde passa e posa para fotos com frequência.O status de medalhista olímpico, no entanto, não foi suficiente para evitar um constrangimento e um grande prejuízo esportivo recentemente.

Em meados de outubro, Wu e a namorada, a também atiradora Rosane Budag, voltavam de uma competição na Itália rumo a Curitiba, onde disputariam a última etapa do Campeonato Brasileiro. Na conexão no Aeroporto de Guarulhos, em São Paulo, um erro de procedimento da companhia aérea no despacho das armas fez com que a Polícia Federal fosse acionada no raio-x de bagagens. O casal de atletas ficou retido por cerca de cinco horas até que tudo fosse resolvido, mas perdeu o torneio e a chance de disputar os títulos das respectivas provas.

Wu posta imagem de estudo da faculdade em rede social e pede férias (Reprodução Instagram)

São essas burocracias excessivas e a falta de apoio que desanimam os profissionais. Wu ainda adota uma postura otimista e evita reclamar, mas constrói paralelamente à carreira de atleta um futuro em outra profissão. Passados os Jogos, ele retomou os estudos do curso de Engenharia Aeroespacial, trancado desde abril. Para dar conta de tudo, reduziu temporariamente a carga de treinos.

- É bem complicado (estudar) agora que voltei a treinar. Certamente minha dedicação não é como em 2016 porque minha dedicação era total aos treinos, tranquei a faculdade, mas espero conciliar bem e ter bom rendimento. Infelizmente nosso esporte não é muito profissional, e eu preciso ter um plano B. Acho que termino o curso bem próximo de Tóquio (Jogos de 2020), um pouco antes ou um pouco depois.

Para facilitar a vida de Wu, o calendário do tiro esportivo em 2017 está bem mais ameno do que nas temporadas em que há contagem de pontos para o ranking de classificação olímpica. Os primeiros compromissos serão ainda em janeiro, em competições na Alemanha e na Holanda. Haverá apenas três etapas de Copa do Mundo, em março, maio e junho. E no segundo semestre, ainda sem data ou local confirmados, o medalhista olímpico disputará o Sul-Americano e o Ibero-Americano.

50m pistol faces the firing squad

Shooting

Jacob Roberts / Staff Writer

JANUARY 5, 2017 12:11 PM

Gibsons’ marksman Allan Harding has been working towards a goal of shooting 
in the 50m pistol event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, but a recommendation 
to remove the event may stand in his way.

Gibsons marksman Allan Harding has dreams of shooting in the Olympics, but his main event – the 50m pistol – might not see the light of day at Tokyo 2020.

In an effort to encourage gender equality at the Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is working with international federations – including the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) – to encourage mixed gender team events. That could mean the elimination of certain male-only events, like the 50m pistol.

“That’s what I’ve been focusing on for the last couple of years,” Harding said. “It’s what I was setting my sights on for Tokyo 2020, the 50m pistol event. I find it to be the toughest pistol event – or shooting event – in the world. The target has never changed, it’s never been reduced the way that other events have.

“Over time, targets have gotten smaller because people in the competition have gotten better,” Harding said. “Records were being tied so they made the targets smaller to set new records. But the 50m pistol event – that target – has never changed because it’s so difficult no one has ever come close to hitting a perfect score. To see it go away would just be really sad.”

The question many people are asking is, why not let women compete in the 50m pistol instead of removing it entirely – but the reality, Harding explained, is that there is limited time to develop a women’s 50m event internationally for the next Olympic Games.

The recommendation is to remove the 50m pistol event – as well as the 50m rifle prone men and double trap men (a shotgun event) – and replace them with mixed gender events. Chairman of the ISSF Athletes Committee Abhinav Bindra released a statement encouraging shooters to “look at the bigger picture.”

“Shooting currently has nine men’s events and six women’s events on the Olympic program, so major changes are necessary,” Bindra said.

“Several factors such as universality, sport presentation, grassroots development, sustainability, environmental and cost factors were taken into consideration,” Bindra said. “The huge success of the 10m air mixed team events at the Youth Olympics was also considered and we were informed of the encouraging response of the IOC towards the mixed events.”

Currently these men’s shooting events are still on the Olympic slate – their removal is just a recommendation – but Harding is concerned that the ISSF is leaning towards cutting his primary event.

“I think it’s a really slippery slope if they start to move away from the non-air pistol events and I hate to see them go in that direction,” Harding said. “50m pistol has been in the Olympics for over 100 years.”

Harding said he plans to shift his focus back to the 10m Air pistol event, but he hasn’t given up on the 50m pistol, as it will still be a competitive event at the international level.

A petition to save the 50m pistol event has been started on www.change.org – follow the shortened URL at bit.ly/2hNCl2V to sign the petition. It has already accrued over 5,000 signatures.

© Copyright 2017 Coast Reporter - See more at: http://www.coastreporter.net/sports/local-sports/50m-pistol-faces-the-firing-squad-1.6377634#sthash.jmXIHAKN.dpuf


Posted by Thm Erik Syrdahl 
Source - http://www.coastreporter.net/sports/local-sports/50m-pistol-faces-the-firing-squad-1.6377634

ISSF maintains stance to axe double trap from Tokyo 2020

Tuesday, January 3, 2017, 09:27 

by Valhmor Camilleri

MSSF chief asks for time before changes come into effect

William Chetcuti taking aim during a double trap shoot.

The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) is very likely to stick with its plans and axe double trap from the Olympic Games programme, starting from Tokyo 2020, replacing it with a mixed gender competition.

Double trap is not the only shoot facing exclusion from the Games with the 50 metres Rifle Prone and the 50 metres Pistol events also set to be omitted from the list.

The world governing body for shooting sport said it was taking the decision to adhere with the requirements of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) who are urging international federations to attain 50 per cent female participation in the Olympics as part of the agenda for 2020.

A final decision on Tokyo will be taken by the IOC next July.

The ISSF proposals inevitably drew a sharp response from its member federations with most of them voicing their opposition to the measures.

The Malta Shooting Sport Federation (MSSF) has exchanged correspondence with the ISSF top brass to express its concerns as the new regulations would see our leading shooters, William Chetcuti and Nathan Lee Xuereb, unable to represent the country on the big stage.

Last year, ISSF president Olegario Vazquez Rana appointed an ad-hoc committee, composed of federation secretary Franz Schreiber and vice-presidents Gary Anderson, Wang Yifu and Vladimir Lisin, with the aim of achieving gender equality in Olympic shooting.

In their report, the committee said that “low participation is a valid reason for deleting men’s double trap” from the Games.

The report added: “After concluding an exhaustive evaluation process, the ISSF Ad-Hoc Committee recommends replacing the Double Trap Men event with a Trap Mixed Gender Team event, the 50m Rifle Prone Men event with a 10m Air Rifle Mixed Gender Team event, and the 50m Pistol Men event with a 10m Air Pistol Mixed Gender Team event.”

Saviour Portelli, president of the MSSF, told Times of Malta that they have written a letter to ISSF president Rana, showing their surprise at the decision to delete double trap from the Olympics.

“It’s a very disappointing situation for us at the Malta Shooting Sport Federation as we have seen the development of double trap in Malta grow consistently throughout the years,” Portelli said.

“Since 2010, we also introduced a shooting simulator at the Kirkop Sports Complex where young students are being trained in the sport after the school hours.

“We want double trap and the sport to grow in all categories.

“One also has to mention the thousands of euros attained via funds for the development of double trap in particular, mainly through grants from the Maltese Olympic Committee, the IOC’s Olympic Solidarity Programme and the ISSF themselves.

“If this decision is confirmed all that investment and sheer hard work will go down to drain.”

Portelli added they had asked the international body to prolong the process to bring the changes into effect as it was impossible for a small national organisation like the MSSF to field a mixed team in a shotgun competition at the next Olympics.

“We let the ISSF know that if men’s double trap was omitted from the Olympics it would mean a huge blow for our chances of participation. They know fully well that for a shooter to reach maturity it takes at least 12 years,” Portelli explained.

“They also know that one has to think carefully prior to introducing such changes. So, we have suggested a 12-year period during which member federations can plan accordingly also with the support of the IOC and NOCs.”

However, the MSSF requests seem to have made little effect as in an email sent to Portelli yesterday the ISSF left little room for compromise.

“We received your comments and thoughts but we kindly ask you as well to consider and remember the following key points that have guided us to prepare these ISSF gender equality recommendations,” the reply, signed by president Rana and general secretary Schreiber, said.

“The IOC is serious when it states that it wants to achieve gender equality in all sports by Tokyo 2020 and time does not permit to wait. Shooting has become one of the leading sports in the Olympic Games because the ISSF always has collaborated and cooperated with the IOC.

“The selection of shooting events to delete and add must be based on the future, not the past. ISSF recommendations to the IOC must support the worldwide deve-lopment of Shooting Sport and not of individual events.”

MOC’s position

Maltese Olympic Committee (MOC) president Julian Pace Bonello said the governing body for elite sport in the country was behind the MSSF in their fight against the abolition of double trap from the Olympics.

“We all found it difficult to understand why they want double trap out for the sake of gender equality. I think that all federations should be given time to develop the sport among women and we also agree with the MSSF that an adequate time-frame should be established before changes come into effect.

“We ask the ISSF not to scrap double trap from the Olympics as if that happens it could lead other major competitions, such as World and European Championships, as well as the Commonwealths, to follow suit and that would be a great pity indeed.” 

Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl 

Source - http://www.timesofmalta.com/

Battle's Olympic medallist unsure what future holds

Steve Scott is all smiles after winning Olympic bronze in Rio.

By
SIMON NEWSTEAD

It's been the best year of his career, but Olympic medallist Steve Scott ends 2016 unsure of what the future holds. 

The Battle shooter won men’s double trap bronze in Rio during August after defeating fellow Team GB marksman Tim Kneale with a perfect 30/30 in the bronze medal match. 

But the discipline could now become excluded from the Olympic programme under plans announced by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). 

Scott told Observer Sport: “It’s obviously been a great year with the Olympics and stuff like that, probably the best of my career. 

“The Olympics was absolutely amazing, I absolutely loved it. I was so lucky to be there and participate, let alone come away with a medal. 

“We got a big funding boost thanks to my medal, but my discipline looks like it’s going to be removed from the Olympics. The double trap is a men-only discipline and the IOC (International Olympic Committee) are trying to be more gender-neutral.” 

The ISSF’s event programme currently has nine men’s and six women’s events. In order to achieve 50% gender equality in events, the organisation plans to convert three men’s events - 50m rifle prone, 50m pistol and double trap - to mixed gender team events. The men’s double trap would be replaced with a trap mixed gender team event. 

This recommendation, along with those involving the other events in question, will be put to the ISSF executive committee and ISSF administrative council that will meet in New Delhi during the ISSF World Cup event in late February. 

The plans have been strongly opposed by the double trap community, which claims the number of athletes participating in shooting sports would decrease and the hopes of a whole generation of young athletes who are enthusiastically dedicated to double trap would be dashed. 

Compromise solutions such as a double trap mixed team event or resurrecting women’s double trap, which was taken off the Olympic programme after the 2004 Games, have been suggested. 

If the proposed changes go ahead, Scott not only faces the prospect of having to change disciplines, but he would also lose the funding he currently receives for double trap.

“If it does go ahead, I can change over to Olympic trap, I just need to find some backing for it,” Scott continued. “It’s a lot of money. An average day’s training is £200-500 in fuel, ammunition and clays - and that’s not including a coach.” 

The world number four in double trap, Scott has competed in one Olympic trap event in the past and beat World Championship medallists. 

“I know I’ve got the ability; it’s just a case of putting it into practice,” Scott went on. “It (Olympic trap) is a lot easier to do - double trap is a lot more technical - but there’s a lot more people that shoot it. 

“I’m very competitive and I love the sport. It’s in my blood and I love my job. Very few people get up in the morning and think ‘I can’t wait to get to work’ but for me I get to go shooting and it’s a pretty good feeling.” 

The 31-year-old wished to thank the support of Herstmonceux-based vehicle leasing company Carmyke Leasing, shotgun manufacturers Perazzi and ammunition manufacturers Fiocchi.

Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl
Source - http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/