Korean and Chinese shooters grab five more places each at Rio 2016 Olympic Games
East Asian nations on top as 24 slots are awarded at ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup stage in Republic of Korea
Russia's Liubov Yaskevich won the 10m air pistol competition and a place at Rio 2016 (Lars Baron/Getty Images)
Host nation the Republic of Korea and near neighbours China were the big winners as the latest stage of ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup came to a close on Wednesday (15 April), with both countries winning five places at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. According to the ISSF, tn total, 24 berths were awarded over six days of competition in Changwon.
More than 570 athletes from 68 countries competed in 10 events, with Germany, Russia and Serbia each earning two places at the Rio 2016 Games. Norway, the USA, Hungary, France, Myanmar, India, Sweden and Mongolia all won one slot.
The places will be allocated to the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) of the winning athletes. The NOCs will then decide, along with their national shooting federations, if they will take up their quota and which athletes to send to the Games. Each country can have up to two representatives in each event at the Rio 2016 Games.
Among the highlights was the success of 19-year-old French shooter Jean Quiquampoix, who won the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol event in his first senior world cup final match. The 19-year-old set a new junior final world record of 29 hits and earned a place at Rio 2016 for his NOC.
Jean Quiquampoix won a long-awaited place for France at the Rio 2016 Games (Photo: Nicolo Zangirolami/ISSF)
“I’m very happy to have won the quota because we’ve been waiting for this moment, it’s been a long time since France had a quota in this event,” said Quiquampoix. “I’m not automatically qualified, though, we’ll have an internal selection process next year, and the best will head to Rio. I hope I’ll be the one.”
For the full results from Changwon, click here.
Of the 390 shooting places available at Rio 2016, 119 have now been won. In addition to the 20 won in the last two stages of the Shotgun World Cup, 75 were confirmed last year: 64 at the world championships and 11 at the Americas Shooting Championships.
Another 226 places Rio 2016 places will be allocated via a further 11 competitions this year. Of the remaining slots, 12 will be determined in 2016, nine are allocated to host country Brazil and 24 will be distributed through invitations.
Qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games is an ongoing process and final entries will only be officially confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games). Entries are recommended by national federations or sport organisations to their respective National Olympic Committees or National Paralympic Committees, who decide on final selections.
