Shooting set for format tweaks ahead of 2028 LA Olympics

New Delhi: To take shooting to a wider audience and make it more spectator-friendly, the world shooting body plans to introduce changes in the sport’s rules and formats, International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) president Luciano Rossi said on Sunday.
He was speaking ahead of the year-ending World Cup Final starting here on Tuesday.
While the modalities of the format change are still being worked out, ISSF plans to make the shotgun events – skeet and trap – leaner and more competitive. The outdoor events involve hitting moving targets with wind and rain also a challenge for the shooters.
Unlike the eight-shooter rifle and pistol finals, only six qualify for the shotgun medal round. “Firstly, we need uniformity… We want to increase the number of finalists in individual shotgun events to eight,” Rossi said.
“We realised that the spectators and broadcasters were not happy with our finals — they were too long and lacked emotion. I have shared some ideas with our technical committee which will assess them.”
The Paris Olympics had 15 events and Rossi said they would be retained at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. The field would be 340 (170 men, 170 women). “We have communicated this to the (LA Games) organising committee and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). We have had a very difficult relationship with IOC earlier but things have changed. We share a very cordial relationship.”
As of now, the qualification rounds for skeet and trap last 2-3 days with competition over 125 shots in five series of 25 each. This may change too as ISSF looks to make it more TV friendly.
“We need to have a new format soon, but it will be implemented only after consultation with a lot of stakeholders, including the shooters, federations and journalists. We have to realise it is time to change. By the end of next year, we plan to come up with the changes… We would like to get going with the changes in 2026. The first World Cup of 2027 will be competed with new rules for sure.”
2025 Jr World Cup in India
Next year’s junior World Cup will be held in India with Rossi praising India for the excellent showing of the country’s shooters in the just-concluded edition in Lima. India won 24 medals (13 gold, 3 silver, 8 bronze) in the Peruvian capital.
India is also likely to get an Olympic qualifier in 2027. “We’ve received India’s application. The final decision rests with the ISSF executive committee but I don’t see a problem.”
It is understood that the World Cup Final, in which the prize money (5000 euros for gold, 4000 euros for silver and 2000 euros for bronze) is borne by the hosts, had few takers due to the high organising costs. India’s federation (NRAI), it is learned, bargained for two ISSF events for hosting the World Cup Final.
The Paris Games qualification included the use of a rankings system. This may be dropped for LA. “We noticed that the ranking system benefitted only the bigger and stronger nations. Going forward, we want to designate every World Cup two years before the Olympics as a quota event,” he said.
India’s Olympic medallists Manu Bhaker, Sarabjot Singh and Swapnil Kusale have opted to skip the competitions starting at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range on Tuesday.
“It’s an excellent opportunity for other shooters to make their mark. The 23-member Indian team is a very strong unit,” NRAI president Kalikesh Singh Deo said. Any modification to India’s selection process will take place once the Olympics qualification system is known.