The ISSF President Olegario Vazquez Raña welcomed the athletes at the first World Cup Stage of the year. New final rules will be used here for the first time. Shooters will have to pass through semi-finals and medal matches on their way to the podium, while the qualification scores won’t be carried forward.
The 2013 ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Acapulco, Mexico, officially kicked-off yesterday evening at Acapulco’s shooting range. The first match, the Trap Women competition, will take place today, with the semi-finals scheduled to take place at 3.15 PM (Acapulco time).
“This is going to be a great competition for our shooters. We are presenting here the new finals, which will change the look of our sport.” The ISSF President, Mr. Olegario Vazquez Raña, said at the opening ceremony.
“We have received several positive feedbacks on the new rules, and I wish the athletes a great start into the new Olympic cycle.” He added.
The season kicks-off from Acapulco (MEX), a location that had already hosted a successful ISSF event in 2010. ISSF and local authorities welcomed the athletes during a colourful opening ceremony, yesterday evening. Over 160 shooters coming from 27 countries will take part in this first 2013 ISSF World Cup Stage.
New finals rules
The first event, the Trap Women final, will be the first stage for the new ISSF finals rules. What’s up new? The qualification stages did not change. Each athlete passing through the Trap Women qualifications will shoot 75 targets, divided in 3 rounds of 25 targets each. After the qualifications, two new competition phases are waiting the best athletes: the semi-finals and the medal matches.
Semi finals
The top-6 shooters after the qualifications will access the semi-final. There, they will compete on stations 2, 3 and 4 only, shooting a total of 15 targets. Targets are random, and semi-finalists can only fire one shot at each target. The top-2 shooters after the semi-final will advance to the Gold medal match. The shooters ranked 3rd and 4th will advance to the Bronze medal match.
Medal matches
The two medal match contenders will compete on stations 2, 3 and 4 only, shooting a total of 15 targets. Like in the semi-final, targets are thrown randomly and medal match contenders can only fire one shot at each target.
In the Gold medal match, the shooter with the highest number of hits wins Gold, the shooter with the lowest number of his wins Silver. In the Bronze medal match, the shooter with the highest number of hits wins Bronze, the shooter with the lowest number of his places 4th.
Follow the event on www.issf-sports.org