Online shooting championship returns with biggest field yet
With the nationwide lockdown extended, Shimon Sharif plans to make the online championship a once-in-15-day thing until normalcy returns.
After the success of the first two International Online Shooting Championships, Shimon Sharif is stretching the third edition to include 100 participants, double the number of shooters from last time.
Scheduled to be held on May 9, the third edition of the tournament will follow the identical drill of shooters logging on to the Zoom platform from their respective homes.
Each shooter will have an electronic target setup alongside their mobile phone with an internet connection, which would stream the action and their scores while they shoot.
While the first edition had just the qualification round featuring 25 shooters, the second one had 50 shooters competing in a 24-shot final for both the 10m Air Rifle and 10m Air Pistol events.
The third edition will see 100 shooters shooting simultaneously and will remain the limit of the competition.
“Having organised it successfully the first two championships, I am now confident of increasing the number of participants in the third tournament. But it will not go beyond 100 for now,” Shimon Sharif told the Press Trust of India.
One for the future
With the COVID-19 outbreak halting all sporting activities across the world, the International Online Shooting Championship has been well received by both athletes and the audience.
India has extended its nationwide lockdown phase until May 17th and Shimon Sharif has plans to organize the virtual championship every 15 days to keep the shooters and fans engaged.
However, Sharif believes that the online shooting championship should transcend its stature as an alternative outlet during lockdown to a full-time competition.
“I’d say this need not be looked at as only a ‘lockdown’ thing,” Shimon Sharif told the Olympic Channel in an interview.
“It could be extended beyond it as well and we could probably see higher participation [in future] from shooters who do not have a set-up at home.
“They could travel to the ranges, where they practice, that have all the requisite facilities and compete similarly with shooters around the world without bearing the cost of travel or accommodation,” Sharif proposed.
When and where to watch the International Online Shooting Championship
The International Online Shooting Championship will be held on Saturday, 9th May and will begin at 3 PM IST.
The competition, like the previous two editions, will be streamed live on the Facebook page of indianshooting.com, a website run by Shimon Sharif.