The Federation of University Sports of China is a very active member of FISU that organized two World University Championships in 2008: water skiing and sports shooting. Sport Shooting is a new sport in our program, but it seems to be very attractive for students, for the national federations of university sports as well as for the International Sports Shooting Federation.
The first World University Championship in this discipline took place in Pilsen (CZE) in 2003, attracting 28 countries and approximately 300 participants. As an optional sport at the Bangkok Universiade (THA) in 2007, it drew nearly 400 marksmen from 43 countries! This is truly exceptional, which goes to show how popular the sport actually is. For this second World University Championship, our marksmen had the opportunity to use the infrastructures of the last Olympic Games that took place, as
Leonid Ekimov (RUS) winner of the 50m pistol
you know, in Beijing.
In other words, the technical equipment was excellent, among the best in the world, and totally in compliance with the ISSF norms.
The competition lasted three days, which is perhaps a bit too short for such a large number of events including so many participants. One additional day was reserved for practice. Once again, the championship attracted a full load of participants with 306 contestants (162 men and 144 women) from 28 countries. According to our technical delegate for sport shooting, Mrs. Ertlova, the competition was at top level, comparable to that of an ISSF world championship or a European championship, in every discipline present.
For that matter, many marksmen were on the way home from the Olympic Games and often competed with each other at high-level international competitions. So there was a mixture of “amateurs” and very well-trained, top-level marksmen on the national A-string teams, and that is all for the best. One category where participation was particularly high consisted for 80% of contestants who are members of national teams – the women’s air rifle event.
Results achieved were comparable to those of a World Cup or an ISSF World Championship, which is one more reason for us to pay greater attention to this new sport.
China, alongside Italy, Cyprus or Switzerland, Slovakia, Hungary, Mongolia and France were among the countries at the top in Beijing. The medals were distributed quite evenly, with just a little advantage to the host country that brought in a very strong team. Our thanks go to the entire Organizing Committee team that did a remarkable job with the help of many volunteers who were truly effective and responsible. The opening and closing ceremonies were held on the Tsinghua University campus. The magnificent cultural programs proposed on these occasions delighted the participants who always feel that coming to China is a very special experience…
Rendez-vous for the next world championship in the discipline to take place in Wroclaw, Poland in 2010.