Shooting at 2024 Paris Olympics: Scoring Rules, Format and Path to Medal
Shooting is one of the most fascinating sports to be played at the upcoming Paris Olympics. The sport has been a permanent member in the Olympics family ever since the 1896 edition in Athens, with exceptions coming in 1904 and 1928 Games. When shooting was first introduced, it had only five events but now, in 2024, there will be a total of 15 events.
USA has been stalwarts in shooting as they are the most successful country at the Olympics with 115 medals, including 57 gold. Apart from them, China and Russia (under USSR flag) have also won numerous medals in the sport. In recent times, India has been fielding strong and huge shooting contingents but the 1.4bn populated country has only managed four medals till date.
India will have a bunch of new shooters this time out at the Olympics. Last time they fielded only 15 shooters but this time the number is higher. Debutants and promising shooters like Arjun Babuta, Anish Bhanwala and Raiza Dhillon will aim to make a mark in their maiden Olympics campaign. On the other hand, experienced candidate Manu Bhaker will aim to do what she couldn't back in Tokyo.
Rules of the sport
There are mainly three disciplines - shotgun, pistol, rifle. There are three ranges for the athletes to shoot at - 10m, 25m and 50m.
Positions while shooting are also involved - kneeling, prone and standing (some events require all). The shooters have to hit the target or to be precise their shot has to be closest to the bulls eye which is placed in the middle. For the qualification stage, the shooters are required to shoot at a 10-ring target. The number of shots depend as per the discipline. In the finals, the 10 rings are divided into 10 score zones - 10.0-10.9, the latter being the highest point total.
Only events related to shotgun are different as they are played outdoors where shooters have to shoot at flying targets fired from different directions and angles. In the skeet and trap events, the targets (clay objects) are usually 10cm in diameter which fly at over 62 mph. In these events one successful shot at one object is equal to one point.
Format and path to medal
Most events in all disciplines start with a pre-event training, followed by the qualification stages. The qualification stage lasts a few days and post that the final is played. At the Paris Olympics, shooting will start on July 26 and conclude on August 5.