The event, scheduled to start with the Opening Ceremony tomorrow and last until March 9, is the first of six World Cups this year and offers the last chance for rifle and pistol shooters to become eligible to participate in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Among those in action are three Kenyan small bore shooters; reigning African champion Gulraaj Sehmi, his father Satiender Sehmi and the national captain Gurupreet Dhanjul.

Gulraaj Sehmi missed out on a direct continental ticket to the Olympics by a point at last year’s African Championships in Cairo.

He is confident of firing himself above the Minimum Qualification Score of 615 points in Thailand’s capital. 

"I am very confident I will book Kenya a place in the Rio Olympics in Bangkok," he told Kenyan newspaper The Star.

"After coming that close to the cut-off point in Cairo, and with lots of rigorous training I have had, I know I will make the cut for the Olympics."

Gulraaj Sehmi is aiming to follow in the footsteps of his father, who represented Kenya at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. 

Following the action in Bangkok, the ISSF World Cup series is then due to move on to Cyprus’ capital Nicosia for the first shotgun stage from March 17 to 25.

A combined rifle, pistol and shotgun World Cup is then scheduled to be held in Rio de Janeiro from April 13 to 25, serving as an Olympic test event for Rio 2016.

Munich is set to host a rifle and pistol stage from May 19 to 25 and San Marino is scheduled to showcase a shotgun World Cup from June 1 to 11.

Another combined stage will bring down the curtain on the 2016 ISSF World Cup series in Baku from June 20 to 29. 

The two ISSF World Cup Finals will both take place in Italy with the rifle and pistol showdown in Bologna in Italy from October 4 to 10 and the shotgun finale in Rome from October 11 to 16.

ISSF TV will produce video footage at each World Cup stage and World Cup Finals.

The footage will be available both to shooting sport fans on Youtube, Livestream and Youku.