India to host elite shooters in ISSF World Cup Final in October

New Delhi, Aug 8 (PTI) India will host the cream of world shooting when one of the most prestigious ISSF events, the World Cup Final, is held at the Karni Singh Ranges here in October this year.

The World Cup Final (WCF) will be the season-ending tournament for elite shooters in pistol, rifle and shotgun to determine the best exponents in their respective events for the year.

All the medal winners in the 12 individual Olympics shooting events at the Paris Olympics have automatically qualified for the WCF along with the title winners from last year’s event in Doha, Qatar.

Besides, those in top-six of the ISSF World Cup rankings will also qualify for the tournament, though only two from one country are eligible in each of the WCF events.

Indian, being the hosts, can allow wild-card entries.

“The same was earlier announced in Chateauroux during the ongoing Paris Olympics, by the ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation) president Luciano Rossi,” the National Rifle Association of India said in a statement on Thursday.

The winners will get a prize money of Euros 5,000, 4,000 and 3,000 respectively along with medals and trophies.

“This will be the 10th international shooting competition to be held in India going back to the 10th Asian Air Gun held in 2015. This will also be the second ISSF World Cup Final to be held in that period with the first one being held in 2017. Last year Bhopal hosted its first ever ISSF World Cup,” the statement added.

“One of the reasons for our continued success on the international stage in recent years across shooting disciplines has been our endeavour to regularly bring such world-class competitions to India,” said Kalikesh Singhdeo, NRAI’s senior vive-president.

NRAI secretary-general Sultan Singh said, “We hope our shooting stars take full advantage of a home ISSF event to win more international accolades as also the fans, who can see their favourites match up against the world’s best.”

Several Indians, including former double trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi, Olympic 10m air rifle bronze medallist Gagan Narang and 10m air rifle world champion Rudrankksh Patil, among others have won gold medals in previous editions of the WCF.