Shooting Australia has been advised the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 shooting test event scheduled for April 16-26 has been cancelled because of the ongoing concerns regarding Coronavirus (Covid-19).
Shooting has not been the only Olympic event affected by pre-games Test event cancellations and Shooting Australia said it supports and understands the decision.
“The health of athletes and global communities is the number one priority,” said Shooting Australia High Performance Director, Adam Sachs.
“The cancellation affects all nations equally,” he said.
“It is the right call by Tokyo Games organisers to ensure that all nations will be on the same fair and equal footing come Games time. No country will be advantaged by competing at the shooting range prior to the Olympics,” he added.
Mr Sachs said Shooting Australia is now revising its pre-Games preparations, including off-shore competitions.
“In consultation with our coaches, we are now examining a range of options and we aim to finalise these plans as soon as possible in the best interests of our team members,” he added.
Mr Sachs said Australia was in the fortunate position to have athlete quotas for the Tokyo Olympic Games confirmed last year.
“We know we have 15 quota positions available across the shotgun, pistol and rifle disciplines and we are currently conducting nomination events to determine athlete selections,” he said.
Three of the four nomination events in all disciplines have been completed and the remaining nomination event will be held at the Sydney International Shooting Centre between March 20-22.
The Australian Olympic shooting team is scheduled to be announced on March 31.
Further information
Greg Campbell
PRISM Strategic Communications
Ph: 0418 239 139
