The International Shooting Sports Federation on Tuesday took a major step towards gender equality by deciding to have equal number of quota places and events for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and bringing the number of shots/targets for women’s event with the men.
These decision were taken at the ISSF Executive Committee Meeting in Munich on November 7 and would come into effect after the mandatory clearance from the IOC and ISSF Administrative Council respectively.
According to the statement issued by ISSF soon after the meeting, Tokyo Olympics will see a total of 180 men and 180 women compete in three mixed team events and six men’s and six women’s individual events.
The allocation of quota places should begin with the 2018 ISSF World Championship in Changwon, Korea, starting from August 31. “The proposed process also includes some quota places to be assigned through world rankings,” said the release.
The ISSF Executive Committee has also recommended a continuous elimination format for the Mixed Team events after experimenting with various formats over the last one year.
But the major change in the competition system would be for the women shooters who will have to take more shots in qualification.
“The Executive Committee, after almost an year of discussion and analysis, decided to recommend that the number of shots / targets in men’s and women’s events be equalised. This decision will increase the number of shots / targets in women’s events,” the statement read.
As of now, the women take 40 shots in Air Rifle/pistol event as against 60 for men. Similarly in Trap events, men take 125 shots in qualifying while women only take 75.
Among other decision, the Executive Council also decided to reorganise the World Cup final calendar by holding the competition once in two years. There is also a proposal to hold the World championship and junior world championship every two year.
