Shooting WC in Delhi postponed

New Delhi, March 6: The upcoming combined shooting World Cup in the national capital was on Friday postponed to May, while an Olympic test event in Tokyo stood cancelled due to the global novel Coronavirus outbreak.

The tournament, sanctioned by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), was to be held from March 15 to 25 in the capital’s Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range. The Olympic Test event was scheduled to be held from April 16.

The World Cup will now held in two parts before the Olympic Games.

“It is proposed to divide the World Cup in two parts and hold Rifle and Pistol competitions on May 5-12, 2020, while Shotgun competitions on June 2-9, 2020,” the ISSF said in a statement.

The decision was taken after the tournament organisers National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) approached the ISSF with a proposal to postpone the event.

The development comes after the government imposed several restrictions on the entry of travellers from affected countries such as China, Italy, South Korea, Japan and Iran, in a bid to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

Considering the extraordinary situation, the ISSF has also requested the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to prolong the internal Olympic qualification period in order to ensure all shooters get equal chances of making it to the Games. In all, 22 countries had pulled out of the Delhi event.

The event was to be a combined World Cup for rifle/pistol and shotgun shooters. In the wake of the Coronavirus many sporting events across the world have been either cancelled or postponed in recent weeks.