Coronavirus: Tokyo Olympics test event cancelled; World Cup postponed

International Shooting Sports Federation has decided to cancel the Olympic Games test event in shooting scheduled to be held in Tokyo from April 16 due to coronavirus outbreak and also postpone the Shooting World Cup in New Delhi to be held from March 15. The decision to postpone the World Cup comes following the government's decision to restrict visa entries to individuals travelling from the most affected countries.

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The ISSF World Cup — rifle, pistol, and shotgun — will now be broken down to two World Cups — one for the rifle and pistol competitions in the first week of May and for shotgun events to be held in the first week of June.

The decision to postpone was taken in the aftermath of the government advisory that suspended visa requests from Japan, Italy, South Korea, and Iran.

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The advisory read: “All regular (sticker) visas/e-visa (including VOA for Japan and South Korea) granted to nationals of Italy, Iran, South Korea, Japan issued on or before 03.03.2020 and who have not entered India, stand suspended with immediate effect.” 

The ISSF said in its statement: "Due to local restrictions relating to the COVID-19 virus introduced by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India, the organisers of the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi cannot guarantee the participation of all the athletes who would like to enter those competitions. Therefore no ranking points can be earned at this World Cup. Still, it will be possible to achieve the MQS that can influence on athletes' chances to get the desired Olympic Quota Places."

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