Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): As Indian shooters take part in national ranking trials in Bhopal and prepare for Olympics and major tournaments, International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) has once again changed the rules and regulations.
The ISSF has reverted to the previous competition structure for the finals, abandoning the one-on-one combat for the gold medal introduced last year. The approach used at Tokyo Olympics is being reintroduced and will be in force at World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, next month.
The ISSF has now scrapped the format with an additional stage in the finals that pitted the two top scorers for gold medals at World Cups, Olympics and reverted to the old format.
After the Tokyo 2020, the ISSF incorporated an additional stage to the finals to determine the champion in pistol and rifle shooting. But now, it has returned to the old elimination system, with the highest scorer receiving gold medal. The top two will no longer compete for the gold medal separately.
The ISSF, however, has made no changes for qualification phase in which the top eight scorers advance to finals. When asked about the revision, national rifle coach Joydeep Karmakar said there were many changes in last few years. “But rifle won’t change to pistol. There’s no major statistical change. We are immune to changes in rules," he remarked.
When asked whether changes were commendable, he said, "We can’t bother about the applause. Shooters have to stay focused and perform well. We are shooters are not cricketers, we are used to having empty galleries. New rules or old rules, shooters will do what they are there for - shoot."
