ISSF discards rule that pits top two shooters for gold

New Delhi: The International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) has done away with an additional stage in the finals that pitted the two top scorers for gold medal at World Cups and other big-ticket events including the Olympics, and reverted to the old format. ISSF had introduced the additional stage in the finals to decide the winner in pistol and rifle shooting post the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Now, it has again gone back to the old elimination system, where the best scorer would get the gold medal.

The top two now won't compete separately for gold medal. The change will come into effect from the ISSF Pistol/Rifle World Cup in Baku (May 8-15) and will also be followed during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

A new scoring pattern had been introduced for the finals after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to make the sport more spectator-friendly, where the two highest-scoring shooters had to again duel it out for gold, rather than follow the simplified elimination process earlier, with the first to reach 16 points being declared the winner, while the second-best got the silver. This system was in force till the recently-concluded ISSF Pistol/Rifle World Cup in Bhopal.

The ISSF has not made any change in the qualification round from where the eight highest-scoring shooters make it to the finals. By changing the format for the finals, the ISSF has not just simplified the scoring system but also made it easier for the spectators to follow the proceedings.

As per the latest format, the finals will consist of two series of five match shots each for all eight finalists. This will be followed by 14 single-match shots, where the shooter getting the lowest score among eight finalists will get eliminated after the 12th shot and the process will continue every two shots until the medallists are decided. A total of 24 shots will be fired in the final to decided the winner.

India's rifle coach and high-performance manager Deepak Dubey said the new rules had been conveyed to the pistol and rifle squad and it will train for the World Cup in Baku keeping them in mind.

"These new (rule) changes are not technical in nature, so shooters are not required to make any major changes to their techniques. Only a few changes here and there will be required in timing, which can be done easily and we will be working on them during national camp in Delhi later this month," said Dubey, currently in Bhopal for the national trials. "I'm sure we will be quite familiar with the new format ahead of the Baku World Cup. We will be implementing the new format completely in the next set of national trials," he added.