Shooting federation slashes bonus points as it makes major change to Paris Olympics selection policy

Earlier, an Olympic quota winner earned as many as 10 bonus points for clinching a World Championship gold, while a fourth-place finisher got five points.

FILE PHOTO: Esha Singh during women’s 10 M pistol. | Photo Credit: MAHINSHA S/ The Hindu

The governing body of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has tuned the Olympic selection criteria for the Indian shooters for the Paris Games 2024.

The selection for the Olympics will be based on a set of four Olympic selection trials to be conducted by the national federation. All quota place winners and other eligible shooters as per the criteria set by the international federation, would be asked to compete in the mandatory trials.

Three best scores of each shooter from the trials would be considered for finding the average. For the quota winners, the Olympic quota bonus point, one for air events and two for other events, will be added to the total of the three best scores before arriving at the average.

Those shooters who would have got the Olympic quota but for the country already having won the quota, or denied by the rule that one country can win only one quota in an ISSF championship, would also be deemed as quota winners, and given the opportunity to compete in the Olympic trials.

Shooters need to figure in the Qualification Ranking for the Olympic Games (QROG) list to be eligible to compete in those events in the Olympics. The eligibility criteria includes participation in at least two ISSF Championships for the aspiring shooter, in the period of Olympic qualification, from August 14, 2022, to June 9, 2024.

This rules out shooters, without international exposure, eyeing the Olympics.

The NRAI has also decided to consider the placement of top three in the trials after the finals, for additional points, to the qualification scores. The first place will fetch 0.60 points, the second 0.40 and third 0.20 for all events except the air events, which will only get half the relative points. It will be 0.30, 0.20 and 0.10 for the top three places in air events.

India has won 13 Olympic quota places so far from the World Championships and the Asian Championships in the last two years. There are three more ISSF events next year in which Indian shooters can aspire to win the rest of the 11 quota places for Paris. A country can win only a maximum of 24 quota places, 12 men, and 12 women.

After the completion of the Olympic quota place events, the ISSF will award one quota in each event to the highest ranked shooter who does not have the Olympic quota, provided his country has not won more than one quota in that event. That quota place will go specifically to the shooter and cannot be replaced with another shooter by the national federation.