It is the first time a ISSF World Cup series event has been held in Baku, which hosted the inaugural European Games last year.

With less than 50 days to go to the Rio 2016 Olympics, the event is the largest international shooting competition ahead of the Games.

The Azerbaijani Minister of Youth and Sports Azad Rahimov welcomed the participants to the country, officially opening the competition along with the ISSF vice-president, Vladimir Lisin. 

Also present were Hafiz Jafarov and Emin Jafarov, the vice-president and secretary general of the Shooting Federation of Azerbaijan Republic.

The first gold medal to be assigned will be in tomorrow's trap women's final, followed on Thursday (June 23) by the 10 metres air pistol women, the 10m air rifle men and the trap men. 

Competition will then continue until June 28, when the 50m rifle three positions men and skeet men finals are scheduled to take place.

The 2016 ISSF World Cup Series began in March in Thailand’s capital Bangkok with the first rifle/pistol stage of the season.

This was followed by the first shotgun stage in Cyprus' capital Nicosia and then the Olympic test event in Rio de Janeiro.

The fourth and the fifth stages took place in Munich and San Marino respectively. 

The ISSF World Championship in running target events is due to take place in German city Suhl from July 14 to 23.

The peak of the season will be reached in August, when the Olympic Games are held in Rio.

The 15 Olympic Shooting events are scheduled to take place from August 6 to 14.