The World Championships, from July 18 to 26, are expected to attract about 250 athletes from 50 countries, offering a perfect opportunity to showcase the development concepts of the sport, including the equipment that can be used and how a competition might be run.

Visually impaired athletes are one of a few groups of Para-athletes not represented at the World Championships, an issue that IPC Shooting is looking to change in its future development of the sport.

"There is a great demand from countries to add visually impaired shooting onto the programme, so we are really pleased to have arranged a 40 shot air rifle standing contest at Suhl 2014," said Sarah Bond, the IPC Shooting sport manager.

"A select number of athletes have been invited to enter into this special event and to trial new prototype equipment which could revolutionise the future of the sport."

IPC Shooting has been working to develop new prototype technology that is similar to that used in visually impaired biathlon, which uses sound pulses to direct an athlete to the centre of the target.

Double European champion Veronika Vadovicova is on the hunt for her first world title at the 2014 IPC Shooting World Championships in Suhl, Germany ©Getty Images



Those taking part in the event will have the chance to use two types of system, one that is 100 per cent electronic and uses an electronic rifle and target, and one combination system, which uses an electronic aiming device mounted on top of an air rifle for live firing at paper or electronic targets.

The demonstration will not only be used to test the new equipment developed for the discipline, but also to showcase the progress being made for visually impaired athletes wanting to compete in IPC Shooting-sanctioned events to National Paralympic Committees (NPCs).

NPCs will have the chance to watch the demonstration and athletes will be given a survey to complete on the prototype shooting systems.

Feedback will then be taken at the 2014 IPC Shooting Sport Forum, running alongside the Championships, where a dedicated session is being put on to focus on the new developments to visually impaired shooting.

The Sport Forum will also decide if the development project into visually impaired shooting will be continued under IPC Shooting, with the view to developing final technology and a sport-specific classification system by 2018.

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