History of Disability Shooting

Shooting targets with rifles, pistols and shot-guns dates back to the middle ages and records of shooting competitions taking place in Europe go back to as early as the 11th century.

The sport of shooting didn’t develop until the 19th century, when the equipment was refined and shooting federations and clubs were established around the globe.

Shooting was part of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens before the first world championships took place the following year in France.

The world association for shooting, originally named ‘Union Internationale des Federation et Associations de Tir,’ (UIT) was formed in 1907 by eight national federations and was in 1998 renamed the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF).

Shooting has been a Paralympic sport since the Games in Toronto in 1976 and now is actively practised at an elite level in 51 countries around the world.

Classification was originally a disability-orientated system but in 1980 the program changed to a functional classification system, which resulted in the number of classes being reduced from three to five.