Archerfish.org

The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) announces the appointment of Mr. Franz Schreiber of Germany as its new Secretary General.

The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) announces the appointment of Franz Schreiber of Germany as its new Secretary General.  The ISSF Administrative Council voted unanimously this week to appoint Franz Schreiber to fill the vacancy created by the death of his father Horst G. Schreiber in December 2010.  The new Secretary General takes office immediately.

Franz Schreiber has served as the Federation’s Executive Director for the past two years and has over 25 years of experience in working as a professional ISSF staff member.  ISSF President Olegario Vázquez Raña summarized his qualifications by stating, “the ISSF is very fortunate to have someone available who is so well prepared to serve as its Secretary General.  Franz is a young man who is hardworking, honest, loyal and absolutely dedicated to the ISSF.  For the last two years he has been deeply involved in doing the work of the Secretary General and his work has been outstanding.  Our National Federation leaders and our athletes and coaches already know Franz well.”

The ISSF Constitution delegates the authority and responsibility to “appoint a replacement for any Officer…if a vacancy occurs” to the ISSF Administrative Council.   The selection process began when President Vázquez Raña recommended that the ISSF Executive Committee propose Franz Schreiber as the next ISSF Secretary General.   The Executive Committee unanimously approved this proposal in an 11 to zero vote and forwarded it to the Administrative Council.  The vote by the 34-member Administrative Council to appoint Franz Schreiber as Secretary General was also unanimous.

Franz, who is 49, began his professional career as a legal intern in 1982.  He became a full-time employee at ISSF Headquarters two years later.  He has worked in the office of the ISSF Secretary General since that date and has extensive experience in all areas of ISSF activity. 

Schreiber said, “I am very happy about the great trust that I have been given.  I will continue to work for the ISSF and the shooting sport with all my heart and my full energy.  I look forward to supporting President Vazquez Raña and the ISSF to further strengthen the shooting sport in my new capacity as Secretary General.”   

President Vázquez Raña spoke on behalf of the ISSF Executive Committee and Administrative Council when he said, “we offer our sincere congratulations to Franz Schreiber and extend our best wishes to Franz and his wife Brigitte as he begins his service as the ninth Secretary General of the ISSF.”

New competition rules for Olympic event finals are being introduced during the 2010 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup Final that is kicking-off in Munich today.

The ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup Final is kicking-off today at the 1972 Olympic Shooting Range of Munich.  It could be destined to become a milestone in shooting sport history.

New rules for shooting event finals are being introduced and tested during this World Cup Final.  The office of the ISSF Secretary General explained that these changes are designed to make shooting finals more appealing.   

The decision to change how shooting finals are conducted was made after TV productions made during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing were analyzed by the International Olympic Committee Olympic Broadcast System (IOC-OBS) and ISSF.  The analysis by IOC-OBS and ISSF experts proposed a series of changes that are now being tested during the 2010 World Cup Final.  The ISSF Technical Delegate for the World Cup Final, Gary Anderson, said “ISSF leaders are confident these changes will make the presentation of the shooting sport more exciting and interesting to spectators and television viewers.”

If the tests at the World Cup Final are successful, the changes will be presented for approval to the ISSF Administrative Council when it meets in November.  If approved by the Council, these changes will be incorporated into ISSF Rules that will be used during the 2011 and 2012 ISSF competition seasons, as well as during the 2012 London Olympic Games.  The rule changes being tested in Munich mainly concern when finalists’ warm ups and presentations take place.  A new ISSF Dress Code that was introduced earlier in 2010 will also be incorporated into the ISSF Rules.   

- Order for Preparation, Sighting Shots and Athletes Presentation:

Current ISSF Rules call for the presentation (introduction) of finalists BEFORE they complete their preparation or warm-up period and sighting shots.  These warm-up activities are followed by a pause to reset the targets before the first record shot is fired.  This created a problem for television productions because broadcasters and spectators are interested in the presentation of finalists, but most broadcasters do not want to show warm-up activities.  The OBS-ISSF analysis concluded that reversing the order of these final round warm-up procedures could solve this problem.  The new procedures have the athletes complete their preparation periods and sighting shots first.  The athlete presentations are then made AFTER their warm-ups and immediately before the first final round record shots.  After finalists complete their sighting shots, they must set their rifles or pistols down and turn to face spectators so they can be introduced. After their introductions, they are given two minutes to return to their firing positions.  Immediately after that, the commands for the first final round shots begin.  The result is that eight and one-half minutes of “dead time” at the beginning of each final is eliminated.

- ISSF Dress Code:

The new ISSF Dress Code that was introduced earlier in 2010 was designed to ensure that all competitors in ISSF Championships wear competition clothing appropriate for an international sporting event.  Clothing such as jeans and work or ordinary casual clothes are no longer permitted.  Sports uniforms that display national colors are now required.   Anderson said “the new ISSF Dress Code has already produced a significant improvement in the images presented by shooting athletes while they are competing and appearing in ISSF-TV and television productions.”

A record TV viewership was measured during the 2010 ISSF World Championship, indipendent monitoring company said.

“The 2010 ISSF World Championship held in Munich recorded the highest numbers of the TV viewers of any other shooting competition…” an independent audience-monitoring company stated, after measuring the TV coverage of the 50^th ISSF World Championship.

The numbers of the report confirms it: 592 million people watched shooting on TV all around the world, and footage of the competition was made available to a potential audience of more then 2 billion of people. This exceptional results in terms of coverage and viewership were reached thanks to the collaboration between the ISSF, the Eurovision and some of the most important sport video-magazines, which distributed video highlights of the championship all around the world.

International Networks, National TV Stations, Cinemas, Airplanes: more then 450 broadcasters, from Oceania to North America, from Africa to Asia, requested and obtained live feed, videos, highlights, interviews and summaries of the championship and, as a result of it, more than 140 hours of TV were aired during the 10-day event.

Never before a shooting competition had reached such a worldwide coverage, as certified by some of the most important media consulting companies collaborating with the ISSF.

The focus on international media was combined with the usual care for the hardcore shooting fans: a full coverage of the championship was guaranteed on the ISSF website, and the 15 Olympic events were broadcasted live with English commentary, and more than 50 video clips were made available on-demand.

These results paid-off the exceptional resources invested by the International Shooting Sport Federation during this year’s world championship: twenty professionals including cameramen, satellite technicians and experts, more then ten cameras, five tons of materials and three trucks were used to make the best TV production ever possible.

The 2010 ISSF World Cup Final kicks-off today in Izmir, in Turkey, where 59 shooters coming for 23 countries will compete in the five Olympic events of Shotgun Shooting from the 17th through the 23rd of September.

The best shooters of the World meet in Turkey to decide who will rise up the 2010 ISSF World Cup. The recently-awarded World Champions of Munich, the title defenders, and the best performers qualified through this years World Cup Series will fight on the ranges of the Yakakoy Shooting Club of Bornova, in the outskirts of Izmir, the third biggest city of Turkey.

The 2010 ISSF World Cup Series started in Acapulco, Mexico, at the beginning of March, proceeding then to Beijing (CHN), Dorcherster (GBR) and Lonato (ITA).

634 different shooters coming form 85 countries participated in this year’s Series, and a total of 60 medals were distributed to 49 shooters of 20 countries during the four Stages.

Only the bests arrived here in Izmir, welcomed at the opening ceremony by the Sport President of the municipality, Mr. Sabri Sadiklar, and by Bornova’s Lord Mayor, Prof. Dr. Kamil Oleyoy Sindir, who saluted the participating athletes  “We are very pleased to welcome you in our city. Sport means peace, and it is great to host here in Bornova so many sportsmen coming from all around the world, competing in fairplay!”

The ISSF Technical Delegate for this match, Mr. Demetris F. Lordos, speaking in behalf of the ISSF President Olegario Vazquez Raña, welcomed the athletes to the 2010 ISSF Shotgun World Cup Final.

Together with the Vice President of the Turkish Shooting Federation Mr. Ismail Sinan Orhon, Mr. Lordos officially declared the competition open. “We thank our Turkish hosts for their great efforts in organizing this competition, and we wish the best to our athletes!” Said Mr. Lordos, speaking from the opening’s stage.

The first final round, the Skeet Women Final, will take place tomorrow, Saturday the 18^th, at 3 PM (GMT+3).

Do not miss the match! Follow the finals live on www.issf-sports.org

16.09-23.09.2010