Second international online shooting championship to include finals

Encouraged by the success in the first attempt, the organiser of the online international shooting championship will introduce a 24-shot final for both rifle and pistol events in the second edition, which will be held on Saturday.

The first-of-its-kind virtual championship was held last week, with shooters taking aim at the targets from their respective homes amid the coronavirus-forced lockdown.

"Besides the 60-shot qualifications, I have now decided to include a 24-shot finals for both events in the second championship. The response from the shooters has been very encouraging and it can become a regular feature even after the lockdown is lifted," former India marksman Shimon Sharif said.

An electronic target setup, beside a mobile phone with internet connection, is all they require to shoot in the championship.

From India, the first edition of the championship has attracted big names such as Manu Bhaker, Sanjeev Rajput and Divyansh Singh Panwar, whose Tokyo Olympics dreams have been put on hold for a year after the Games' postponement last month due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An initiative of Sharif, the championship, which was live streamed on the internet, saw about 50 shooters, including double gold medallist at the 2019 World Cup in Delhi Veronika Major (Hungary), Nicolas Fraga Corredoira (Spain), Emila Faulkner, Isobel Mactaggart and Lucy Evans (all Scotland), among others.

To make it more interesting, there was commentary by Olympian Joydeep Karmakar and the multiple world championship medallist Peter Sidi of Hungary. Sharif was also a part of the commentary team.

This was after the unprecedented global health crisis forced the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) to cancel all their tournaments this year, including the World Cups.

Like in the first edition, all the participants will again shoot at the same time from their respective homes and it will be streamed live on internet through Zoom app, making the competition transparent.