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The New Delhi World Cup in March next year was on Wednesday dubbed as "decisive" by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) for qualification to the Tokyo Olympics.
Originally scheduled to be held in July-August this year in the Japanese capital, the 2020 Olympic Games was pushed back by a year due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
The competition in Delhi, to be held from March 19 to 28, will be a combined tournament.
"The 2021 ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun in New Delhi will be decisive for Tokyo 2020 Qualification regarding the World Ranking," the world shooting body said on its website.
The ISSF further stated, "This decision of the Executive Committee is compliant with the general approach to maintain the original Qualification System approved in 2017 as much as possible.
"It will be possible to obtain the Olympic MQS (Minimum Qualification Score) at all 2021 ISSF Championships scheduled to take place before the end of the Qualification period (June 6th, 2021)."
According to the ISSF calendar, South Korea (Changwon), Azerbaijan (Baku), Egypt (Cairo) and Italy (Lonato) will be hosting the remaining World Cups in 2021.
The Indian capital was supposed to host a combined World Cup in March this year, which was first postponed to May-June and then cancelled, due to the pandemic.
The National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has received a request from the chief coaches in rifle, pistol and shotgun disciplines to organise a national camp for the Olympic core group to ensure better preparation.
The NRAI had postponed the compulsory training camp for its core group planned from August 1 after taking into account the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of 15 Indian shooters have secured quota places for the postponed Tokyo Games.
The ISSF Executive Committee recently approved rule changes and a new ranking system. The technical changes, mostly in team events, will be included in the ISSF Championships programme from next year.
The ranking system will also be implemented from next year.
