The 2018 ISSF World Championship in all events will be held in Changwon, Korea.
The city won the bid to host the 52nd ISSF World Championship in all events, during the ISSF General Assembly held at the London Tower Bridge Grange Hotel, where 200 delegates met today.
The other candidate city, Maribor (SLO), withdraw its application at the last moment during the assembly, asking for support on its bit for the 2015 World Championship bid.
Korea’s 1992 Rifle Olympic Champion Lee Eun Chul presented Changwon’s application with an impressive set of data: over 40 billion of Korean won are budgeted for the event, the existing shooting range of Changwon will be reconstructed to host six shotgun layouts, one hundred 50meter targets and one hundred 10meter targets, fourteen 25meter layouts as well as several Running Target layouts. About 30 Millions dollar were assigned by the Korean Government for the renovation of Changwon’s shooting range, and to organize the championship, with the new venues planned to be delivered as early as in 2016. “We are committed to deliver an excellent competition. Changwon is a sport-loving city with a long tradition in shooting sport events”, Lee Eun Chul said.
The lord mayor of Changwon, Mr. Park Wan Sou, said: “We are very thankful to the ISSF family and to our Slovenian friend. We have been working hard, and we will do our best!”
The ISSF President, Mr. Olegario Vazquez Raña said: “It’s a big surprise, and I think this is very good for the shooting sport. Our sport is unite, and we always go for the best solution. This is the best decision for our World Championship”.
The ISSF Secretary General, Mr. Franz Schreiber, said: “We congratulate our Korean friends, they have been hosting five ISSF World Cups in these years, and they are experienced championship organizers.”
The ISSF World Championship in all events takes place every four years. The last edition was held in Munich in 2010, and turned out to be the first Qualifying event for the 2012 London Games among all the sports, with over 2300 participants. The next Championship will be held in Granada, Spain, in 2014.
More than 50 shooting events, including Olympic and non-Olympic competitions in the disciplines of Shotgun, Rifle, Pistol and Running Target are conducted at the ISSF World Championship in all events.