ISSF New Delhi World Cup: Organising body postpones event amid growing concerns over coronavirus outbreak

The ISSF shooting World Cup, scheduled to start from 15 March in the national capital has been postponed amid growing concerns over the outbreak of coronavirus. The event is likely to take place in either May or June, The Tribune reported. [caption id=“attachment_7825541” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “The decision was taken in view of the extraordinary circumstances that we as a country and the world is facing now,” National Rifle Association of India president Raninder Singh was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Further, the ISSF World Cup will now be broken down into parts — one for the pistol and rifle and one for the shotgun events. The same was confirmed by Singh, who said: “The combined World Cup will now be held in two parts. One for the rifle and pistol competitions and one for the shotgun events, dates of which will be released shortly.” Besides, the Olympic Games test event in shooting, which was to be held in Tokyo from 16 April, also stands cancelled. This decision comes after the Indian government suspended visa requests from Japan, Italy, South Korea and Iran, in an effort to contain the coronavirus outbreak. “Due to local restrictions relating to the COVID-19 virus introduced by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India, the organizers of the ISSF World Cup in New-Delhi cannot guarantee the participation of all the athletes who would like to enter those competitions,” the ISSF said in a statement. The statement also added that the World Cup in Delhi wouldn’t carry ranking points . “No ranking points can be earned at this World Cup. Still, it will be possible to achieve the MQS that can influence athletes’ chances to get the desired Olympic Quota Places,” it said.