The competition, which will be organised by Club Lucetum, will be the first major gathering of international athletes since the London 2012 Paralympic Games, with around 350 competitors from 35 countries set to attend.

The event comes with the IPC planning to develop a comprehensive shooting competition calendar between now and Rio 2016 where Alicante will play a key role.

As well as the 2013 IPC Shooting European Championships, the Spanish city will also host IPC Shooting World Cup events in 2014 and 2015, with the latter event acting as a Rio 2016 Paralympic Games qualifier.

"We are delighted that Alicante will host the IPC Shooting European Championships," said IPC chief executive Xavier Gonzalez.

"Club Lucetum has an excellent track record for organising competitions to a high standard and have hosted previous IPC Shooting World Cup events in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

"They have also invested heavily in the facilities to bring them up to a high standard."


The 2013 IPC European Shooting Championships will be the first major international competition to feature new finals formats and decimal scoring in the 10 metre air rifle and 50m prone rifle events.

Decimal scoring will enable athletes to potentially add an extra 54 points to their overall qualification score and should prevent ties in the future.

IPC Shooting has taken the decision to switch systems as part of its close relationship with the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF).

The new finals will see all athletes start from zero rather than carry over their qualification score.

The lowest ranking athletes will be eliminated throughout the final until only the final two athletes are left in a 'shoot-off' scenario to fight for first and second place.

Under the IPC Shooting Rules athletes from Africa and Oceania are allowed to take part in the event as they have no regional Championships, although results and medals will be arranged separately to European athletes.

The last IPC Shooting European Championships took place in 2007 in Suhl, Germany, with 280 athletes taking part.

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