National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) were given the opportunity to view both disciplines in action during the Championships in Suhl, Germany, before being approved during a vote at the IPC Shooting Forum held alongside the Championships.

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

The demonstration event in Suhl featured nine nine athletes with visual impairment from eight nations and composed of a 40 shot 10 metre air rifle standing match.

Those taking part used two types of system, one a 100 per cent electronic and used an electronic rifle and target.

The other was combination system, using an electronic aiming device mounted on top of an air rifle for live firing at paper or electronic targets.

It was decided further development of an air rifle mounted electronic system will now take place alongside an intensive period of research into the classification system.

National Paralympic Committees voted to continue developing two new disciplines at the IPC Shooting Forum in Suhl ©AFP/Getty Images



In the Para-clay target shooting discipline, 22 athletes from six countries took part in the demonstration event, including single-trap events for both sitting and standing athletes.

The second phase will include further research and testing, with the purpose of establishing a sport-specific classification system from which rules and regulations can be defined.

It will also include Para-Clay Target Shooting International Grand Prix competition due to be hosted by the Federazione Italiana Tiro a Volo (FITAV) in Todi, Italy, from October 8 to 11.

It follows a meeting earlier this year between IPC Shooting, the International Shooting Sport Federation and FITAV which discussed the implementation of a research project related to the development of a shotgun discipline for Para-clay target shooting.

The next steps for both visually impaired and Para-clay target shooting is for the proposed classification systems to be presented to NPCs for discussion in the summer of 2015.

If the NPCs are satisfied with the project information presented to them, they will be able to vote to endorse the projects to progress to the next phases of development which are currently scheduled to be completed by 2018.

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