London’s Olympic shooting venue has successfully staged the ISSF World Cup, as preparations continue for this year’s Olympic Games. The Royal Artillery Barracks hosted more than 800 competitors from 100 countries during the tournament, which ran from 17-28 April, and ISSF Secretary General Franz Schreiber was impressed by the temporary venue, which will host the shooting events during the London 2012 Games.
“If everything worked well at this test event, there should be no problem at the Games,” said Schreiber. “We had more than twice the participants than at the Games time, when 390 shooters will be competing here at the Royal Artillery Barracks venue.
“The test has been successful, the installation proved to be working very well even under the pressure of such a massive event,” he added. “There is still some work to do to tune up the venue, but with more than 90 days to go there should be no problems.”
Fifteen shooting events – the same number that will be staged during London 2012 – were held at the ISSF World Cup, including indoor rifle and pistol events and outdoor shotgun events.
Four temporary indoor ranges have been constructed at the Royal Artillery Barracks for the Olympic pistol and rifle events, while outdoor shotgun ranges have been built for the trap and skeet events. Temporary grandstands have also been constructed at each range.
The ISSF World Cup gave the London 2012 Organsing Committee the chance to test operations ahead of the Games, including scoring and results systems.
The competition saw Russia top the medal standings, with an overall total of six individual medals, including two gold, and four silver.