World No.1 shooters likely to get direct 2020 Tokyo Olympic entry

New Delhi: In a marked departure from the past, the International Shooting Sport Federation has proposed giving direct Tokyo Olympic quota places to shooters ranked world No.1 in their respective events in January, 2020.

The move, if passed, will be free of involvement of national federations.

"This will ensure that the national federations don't have a say in selection matters for those specific shooters, only the world number one. In a way, it is a good move as merit would get recognition. World number one shooters, in any case, have to be good," a National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) official told PTI.

As per the proposed rule, quota place allocation will start from the 2018 ISSF World Championship to be held in Changwon, Korea from August 31 to September 14 and "the proposed process also includes some quota places to be assigned through world rankings".

This will be applicable for only the top-ranked shooters in each event.

As part of its commitment to achieve gender equality - both in terms of events and quota places - the ISSF executive committee said there will be 180 men and 180 women shooters participating in three mixed team, and six men's and six women's individual events in Tokyo.

In the 2016 Rio Games, there were nine events for men and six for women in shooting.

The ISSF executive committee revised the proposed rules for allocating the Tokyo 2020 Olympic quota places, which will be forwarded to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for final approval. According to ISSF, this is expected to happen in February next year.

The recommended rules change, which will be forwarded to the ISSF administrative council for final approval, includes final rules for the new mixed team events that will feature continuous elimination formats.

These events were approved by the ISSF and the IOC for inclusion in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games shooting program.

The ISSF executive committee, after almost a year of discussion and analysis, decided to recommend that the number of shots/targets in men's and women's events be equalised. This will increase the number of shots/targets in women's events, according to the sport's apex body.

The executive committee, which met in Munich, unanimously decided to reorganise the World Cup Final calendar, holding the competition once every two years, to "not conflict" with the Olympic Games and the World Championship.

The ISSF technical committee will review the qualification process for the Finals during its next meeting in February, 2018.

With the aim to rationalise the yearly competitions' schedule, a new championships calendar will be proposed to the ISSF General Assembly in November 2018.

This proposal includes World Championships and Junior World Championships every two years. In every four-year Olympic cycle there will be one world championship each year.