Shooting for visually impaired athletes became an official para shooting class in 2019 and featured once again at the World Championships, held in Changwon, South Korea, in its fourth edition. According to the International Paralympic Committee, the discipline keeps growing and bringing through new names.
Spain’s Isabel Maria Lopez Elvira, aged just 18, won the world title in the 10m air rifle standing event, five months after receiving her international licence. Poland’s Boguslaw Rutkowski also won his first world title, while his compatriot Barbara Moskal, the inaugural champion in 2019, took silver and remains the only athlete to have won medals at every edition.
The shooters use electronic rifles fitted with a sound device: the tone changes as the sight moves closer to the centre of the target. An assistant may help with positioning, but no verbal communication is allowed while shooting.
The discipline also requires its own training methods, with constant and precise communication between coach and athlete. In India, for example, three athletes already compete internationally, and Dwarakesh Chandrasekaran finished eighth in the final on his World Championships debut.
