Number of shooting competitions to take place in Azerbaijan

By AzerNews

A number of major shooting tournaments will be held in Azerbaijan in the near future.

The decision was made by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) at a workshop in Munich on November 22-23.

Azerbaijan will host Grand Prix, dedicated to the national leader Heydar Aliyev, and Shotgun World Cup Final in 2014, and the Azerbaijani city of Gabala will organize the World Cup in 2015.

Azerbaijan was also accepted to the ISSF as a full member of the organization.

The workshop was attended by Azerbaijan Shooting Federation Vice-President Hafiz Jafarov, Gabala shooting club Vice-President Elvin Ismayilov, and technical manager of the club Emin Jafarov.

The Azerbaijani delegation met with the leadership of the ISSF, including president of the organization Olegario Vazquez Rana and Secretary General Franz Schreiber.

The Pistol World Cup 2015, which will be held a year before the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, will allow athletes to get licenses to the Games. The event is expected to be attended by some 1,600-1,800 athletes from different countries and they will compete for 30 licenses for the Olympics, Gabala club said.

Three out of 26 Olympic medals were gained by Azerbaijan in shooting: a gold medal by Zemfira Meftahaddinova in stand shooting in the Sydney Olympics Games in 2001 and two bronze medals by Meftahaddinova and Irada Ashumova in Athens Olympics in 2004.

The Gabala club was opened in February 2013 in Bum settlement.