Shooting development enters second phase

Further development of visually impaired and para-clay target shooting were voted through by countries at the 2014 IPC Shooting Worlds. 13 Aug 2014

The successful para trap shooting demonstration event at the Suhl 2014 IPC Shooting World Championships featured 22 athletes from six countries

ⒸIPC

By IPC

The further development of visually impaired and para-clay target shooting have been voted through by National Paralympic Committees (NPCs), following two demonstration events held at the recent 2014 IPC Shooting World Championships in Suhl, Germany between 18-26 July.

In early 2014, IPC Shooting met with representatives of Federazione Italiana Tiro a Volo (FITAV) and the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), to discuss a research project related to the development of a shotgun discipline for para-clay target shooting.

It was agreed that a demonstration event should take place during the World Championships so that NPCs could see the discipline in action before a vote was taken on whether to take it forward.

The successful demonstration event featured 22 athletes from six countries and included single-trap events for both sitting and standing athletes, with countries later supporting the move to the next phase during the IPC Shooting Sport Forum.

The second phase will include further research and testing, with the purpose of establishing a sport-specific classification system from which rules and regulations can be defined.

It will also include a FITAV hosted Para-Clay Target Shooting International Grand Prix competition in Todi, Italy, from 8-11 October 2014.

A similar process will also be taken for progressing visually impaired shooting as a new impairment group in shooting para-sport, following its ratification at the Sport Forum.

The demonstration event, also held at Suhl 2014, proved popular with countries, with similar technology used in para-biathlon. It featured nine athletes with visual impairment from eight nations and composed of a 40 shot 10m air rifle standing match.

Further development of an air rifle mounted electronic system will now take place alongside an intensive period of research into the classification system.

The next steps for both visually impaired and para-clay target shooting is for the proposed classification systems to be presented to NPCs for discussion in the summer of 2015.

If the NPCs are satisfied with the project information presented to them, they will be able to vote to endorse the projects to progress to the next phases of development which are currently scheduled to be completed by 2018.