A brief history of the ISSF World Cup, venues, events & key facts

Excitement levels for the entire shooting fraternity keep rising as we near the ISSF World Cup to be held in New Delhi from March 18 to 29. The Dr. Karni Singh Shooting range will witness a whopping 30 finals being contested for the first time at a World Cup leg.

While the countdown has started for the elite competition that will see some of the world's best shooters vie for the honors, it is a good time for the shooting enthusiasts to brush up their knowledge about the sport.

History of shooting as a sport

The shooting discipline has been a part of the Summer Olympics since the first-ever Games in 1896. However, there was no international federation for the sport until 1907, even though some countries had already established their national shooting federations before that.

In 1907, seven national shooting federations came together to form the International Union of National Shooting Federations and Associations. The International Union is what we recognize today as the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF).

The world body started holding the World Championships since 1947 and the shooting event was subsequently added to the European, Pan American and Asian Championships. The shooting sport eventually started gaining interest across all continents as different countries began hosting international shooting tournaments.

The inception of the ISSF World Cups

Finally, in 1986, the IOC invited the ISSF to develop an Olympic Qualification system. This opened up a new horizon for shooters to gain Olympic quotas.

1986 became a golden year in shooting as the first-ever ISSF World Cup was held in Mexico City. Events covered were 10m Air Rifle, 10m Air Pistol, 50m Rifle 3 Positions, and 25m Rapid Fire Pistol categories for both women and men.

All the major international shooting competitions were then considered as ISSF World Cups. ISSF initially decided to conduct six ISSF World Cups every year, which they later reduced to five.

From 1992 till now, ISSF has been conducting four World Cups every year, and three in the Olympic years. The ISSF World Cups are a qualification event for the Olympics.

Since 1988, the world body also introduced the ISSF World Cup Final, where the eight best shooters, with a limit of two per country, are allowed to compete. Wildcard entries are also given to Olympic and World Championship medalists and defending champions.

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Shooting Events and categories at the ISSF World Cups

There are three major shooting events in the ISSF World Cups - shotgun, rifle, and pistol.

PISTOL

• 10m Air Pistol Men
• 10m Air Pistol Women
• 10m Air Pistol mixed team
• 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men
• 25m Pistol Women

RIFLE

• 10m Air Rifle Men
• 10m Air Rifle Women
• 10m Air Rifle mixed team
• 50m Rifle 3 positions Men
• 50m Rifle 3 positions Women

SHOTGUN

• Trap Men
• Trap Women
• Skeet Men
• Skeet Women
• Trap Men team
• Skeet Men team
• Skeet Women team
• Trap Women team
• Trap mixed team
• Skeet mixed team

Shotgun has been a part of the ISSF World Cups since the first edition. However, till 1997, only men were allowed to participate. In 1998, women were also included in the event.

In 2018, the ISSF World Cup gained its gender equality goal, with six men, six women, and three mixed events.

ISSF Shooting World Cup

The ISSF decides the venue for all the World Cups. Out of the four World Cups in pistol and rifle events, at least two happen at Munich (Germany) and Milan (Italy) every year.

Countries like Germany, Italy, Brazil, the USA, and South Korea were the initial stars at the shooting World Cups. However, now Asian countries like China and Japan have also become shooting powerhouses. India is the fastest-growing nation at the ISSF World Cups.

India hosted its first-ever ISSF World Cup for the shotgun event in 1997, while the pistol and rifle event made its debut in 2017.

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Top shooters at ISSF World Cups

Ralf Schumann

German pistol shooter Ralf Schumann has won 39 gold and a total of 56 medals at the ISSF World Cups over his 26-year journey.

Slovenian rifle shooter Rajmond Debevec bagged 27 gold and 67 medals overall. He has the most number of medals at the ISSF World Cups.

American shooter Vincent Hancock leads the shotgun event with 12 golds and 16 overall medals at the ISSF World Cups. The three-time Olympian will also be representing the USA at the Tokyo Olympics 2021.