Dear World Shooting Para Sport Member Associations,

Bonn, 28 November 2017

Information: Important Update

Dear World Shooting Para Sport Member Associations,

Following a rule change by the ISSF, we will now shoot 60 shots instead of 40 in the R2 and P2 disciplines. Additionally the R8 discipline will be 3x40 instead of 3x20 for a total of 120 shots.

While we realise there will be an adjustment period for our athletes we believe this is a positive change. Our sport has been ahead of the curve in terms of gender equality and this is another step in the right direction.

Updated MQS scores for the 2018 World Championships in Cheongju have been posted to our 2018 competitions page. We are excited to inform you about our application to include Para Trap in the 2024 Paralympic Games. This is the first of several steps towards inclusion and we are optimistic about our chances to redefine our sport for the better. MQS scores for Para Trap have been posted on our 2018 competitions page ahead of the Lonato 2018 World Championships in October. We will continue our push for national development and integrated events such as National Championships. Two new events in Europe and the Americas have recently been added.

 The development of Visually Impaired (VI) Shooting continues into 2018 with several events planned. In the coming year we plan to finalise the classification and technical rules and vote for sport adoption at our sports forum. If this is successful we will apply to the International Paralympic Committee Governing Board to officially adopt the sport in the spring of 2019. After this VI events will be integrated into our existing World Cup and World Championship events.

Our sport is in an exciting transitional phase and we thank you for your support and flexibility during this time. We ask that these changes are absorbed and embraced as we look towards the bright future of shooting Para sport. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Ghislaine Briez                                        Tyler Anderson
World Shooting Para Sport                                   World Shooting Para Sport Manager
Sport Technical Committee Chairperson             International Paralympic Committee



Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl
Source:- https://www.paralympic.org/sites/default/files/document/171128104635340_Important+Update_World+Shooting+Para+Sport_November+2017.pdf

Exclusive: ISSF to lobby Birmingham 2022 and CGF to have shooting restored to programme

• By Liam Morgan
 
•  Monday, 25 December 2017

International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) secretary general Franz Schreiber has admitted the governing body is "very disappointed" at the decision by Birmingham 2022 to omit the sport from the Commonwealth Games programme.

In a statement sent to insidethegames, Schreiber claimed, however that the global governing body had not given up hope of the sport featuring at the 2022 Games in the British city.

Birmingham 2022 has offered no indication that they plan to change their current stance.

Birmingham were officially awarded the 2022 Commonwealth Games last Thursday (December 21).

Ian Ward, who led the successful bid and is the current head of the Birmingham City Council, revealed to insidethegames that the decision not to include shooting was driven by the limit of athletes and the lack of a venue.

Shooting has been contested at every Commonwealth Games since Kingston 1966, with the exception of Edinburgh 1970. 

It was thought unlikely that it would be included as part of Birmingham's plans as the closest Olympic-standard shooting range to the city is 130 miles away in Bisley in Surrey.

"Naturally, we are very disappointed in the fact that shooting is not included in the sports programme for Birmingham 2022, at this point," Schreiber said. 

"The ISSF is already in contact with the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) with a view to discussing the future of our sport in the Games, which will include exploring possibilities for inclusion in 2022."

Birmingham has not included shooting as part of its programme 

for the 2022 Commonwealth Games ©Birmingham 2022

The ISSF had previously urged all cities bidding to replace Durban as hosts of the 2022 Commonwealth Games to include the sport on the programme.

Liverpool, which lost out to Birmingham in the race to be Britain's candidate, had also omitted shooting from its proposal.

Shooting currently features on the CGF's list of optional sports from which a Games candidate city can include up to seven.

It is due to be contested at next year's Games in Gold Coast and was initially selected as an optional sport by Durban, stripped of the event by the CGF in March after failing to meet a series of financial guarantees.

India are among those to be disappointed by Birmingham 2022's decision.

They are currently second on the all-time medal table having won 56 gold, 40 silver and 22 bronze.

The Indian Olympic Association are likely to voice their opposition to both Birmingham 2022 and the CGF.

Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl

Source: - https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1059472/exclusive-issf-to-lobby-birmingham-2022-and-cgf-to-have-shooting-restored-to-programme

Shooting World Cup Para Sport returns to Al Ain in 2018

First time Para trap discipline will be included alongside rifle and pistol events

World Shooting Para Sport has announced that Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), will host its third straight World Cup from 22-27 March 2018.

The competition will be the first World Cup of the year and is a crucial opportunity for athletes to fine-tune themselves ahead of the 2018 World Shooting Para Sport Championships in Cheongju, South Korea. In particular, the 2018 Al Ain World Cup will be the last chance for shooters to earn valuable MQS (minimum qualifying score) points in 25m and 50m events towards the 2018 Worlds.

While athletes will focus on preparing for Cheongju, the World Cup is also a step forward in the development of Para trap, which was officially added to World Shooting Para Sport in May 2017. It will be the first competition to feature the shotgun discipline alongside rifle and pistol events.

Tyler Anderson, World Shooting Para Sport Manager, said: “We are excited to return to the shooting ranges in Al Ain. The local organising committee did an excellent job hosting the World Cups the last two years, and I have no doubt they will give the athletes another fantastic experience as they gear up for the 2018 World Championships.

“We are especially thrilled to take advantage of Al Ain’s world-class shotgun range. With Para trap now part of the federation’s family, it is important we continue integrating the discipline into our events and give athletes as many opportunities to compete.”

Al Ain hosted the first competition of 2017 in February, and saw multiple world records set as a new finals format made its debut in the single position events. Finals now consist of two five shot series instead of a three shot series, upping the total number of shots from 20 to 24.

The competition was followed by a Grand Prix in Szczecin, Poland; and three more World Cups in Lonato, Italy; Osijek, Croatia; and recently Bangkok, Thailand.

The World Cup in Lonato was the first for Para trap alone, and took place in September.

The 2018 World Shooting Para Sport World Championships will take place from 1-12 May. Around 300 shooters from 60 countries will take their first chance to grab quota places for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

"With Para trap now part of the federation’s family, it is important we continue integrating the discipline into our events and give athletes as many opportunities to compete”

More information on the 2018 Al Ain World Cup can be found at World Shooting Para Sport’s website.


Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl.
Source: - https://www.paralympic.org/news/shooting-world-cup-returns-al-ain-2018

Singapore shooters ready for new rules

Singapore's Jasmine Ser kneeling while others are in prone position during the Rio Olympics 
women's 50m rifle three-positions qualification round. They will get 40 shots in each position 
next year, double the current 20.ST FILE PHOTO

Women to take the same number of shots as men under longer ISSF format effective from Jan 1

Lim Say Heng

National shooter Jasmine Ser is gunning to show that anything the men can do, the women can too.

The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) announced on Monday a slew of rule changes that will take effect from Jan 1. Among them is having both men and women take the same number of shots during competitions.

For example, the women's rifle three-positions event qualification phase currently requires an athlete to take 20 shots in each position - kneeling, prone and standing - within 1 hour and 45 minutes.

This will be changed to 40 shots in each position, within 2hr 45min (for electronic targets) from next year, the same as the men's event.

It means Ser and her female team-mates will need more physical and mental conditioning for the increase in number of shots and competition period. But she remained unfazed ahead of her 50m air rifle three-positions title defense at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April.

"If they (ISSF) think we (women) are up for more shots, we will be up for the challenge," said the 27-year-old, who is also the SEA Games champion in this event.

She added that Singapore's shooters are mentally "resilient" enough to adapt to the changes.

Reigning SEA Games 10m air rifle champion Martina Veloso, 18, welcomed the changes as she believes the additional shots in the 50m event can work in her favour.

"With 20 shots, we really have to make sure that we cannot afford to make mistakes whereas in the 40-shot format (errors) can be compensated with more shots," she said. "We don't have to be that stressed compared to 20 shots."

Qualifiers for the women's 10m air rifle and air pistol events will increase from 40 shots to 60 shots, while the 25m pistol women event will continue as a 60-shot event.

Commonwealth Games 10m air pistol gold medallist Teo Shun Xie, however, does not think that the longer format will necessarily be more forgiving of errors.

"Everyone is so close during competitions and a bad shot can still make you tumble from the top to the bottom, so you'd need to keep your focus for the entire 60 shots," said the 29-year-old of the 10m air pistol event."

Shooting's global governing body has introduced other rule changes in recent years. Since 2013, qualification scores are no longer carried over to both the men's and women's finals, which are now conducted in an elimination format.

As such, Ser feels that the latest changes are unlikely to affect who will prevail in the final.

In response to queries by The Straits Times, an ISSF spokesman said of the new rules which will extend till 2020: "This decision reflects the ISSF's commitment to the IOC (International Olympic Committee) Agenda 2020 goal of gender equality in sports."

Shooting is not the only sport that has been affected by the IOC's Gender Equality Review Project.

The 2020 Tokyo Games are set to see 48.8 percent of participation by women - the most gender-balanced edition in Olympic history - following the introduction of new events.

There will be mixed team events in archery and judo; a 4x400m mixed relay in athletics, a 4x100m mixed medley relay in swimming, table tennis mixed doubles and a mixed team relay in triathlon.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 23, 2017, with the headline 'Singapore shooters ready for new rules'. Print Edition | Subscribe


Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl.
Source: - http://www.straitstimes.com/sport/singapore-shooters-ready-for-new-rules

Follow new rule: Bindra ~

Abhinav Bindra

New Delhi: Abhinav Bindra, on Tuesday, said the latest decision to bring the number of shots in women's events on a par with their male counterparts was taken by the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) only after consulting a large number of top shooters.

The decision has raised many eyebrows, including here in India. Bindra, too, has faced criticism since he is the chairman of the ISSF athletes' commission.

Bindra said: "It would be better for the shooters to adapt to the latest change rather than complaining about it. The ISSF only took the decision after consulting with lots of shooters across the world. The majority of them agreed to it," he said.

"A lot of petitions wanting an increase in shots had been pending for last few years, something which was in the works for a long time. The rule has been changed and everybody has to adapt to it. You must follow the new rule.

"It wasn't the decision of the athletes committee alone. It's the decision taken by the ISSF's administrative council which overwhelmingly voted in favour of the rule change," the 2008 Olympic gold medallist said.

According to the new rule, which would come into effect from January 1, the shots in the women's 10 meters air rifle and air pistol events will increase from 40 to 60.

The number of shots will be increased in other women's rifle events and in women's skeet and trap events.

Bindra was in the capital, on Tuesday, for the launch of the Elms Sports Foundation. Speaking on the occasion, the former star shooter said the country needed coaching in a scientific and professional manner to nurture the sporting talents in the country.

"Last decade, we have seen the emergence of a large number of talented sportspersons in India. Talent is always there. We are from the self-help generation, who have now grown up," he said.

Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl

Source: - https://www.telegraphindia.com/sports/follow-new-rule-bindra-194898