Nordic Shooting Region

The Nordic Shooting Region (NSR), established in 1921,[1] is a union of some of the shooting associations from Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Great Britain, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. NSR hosts Nordic championships for some of the ISSF disciplines within pistol, rifle, clay shooting and running target, in addition to some own Nordic disciplines.

Nordic Shooting Region
SportISSF Shooting Sports
AbbreviationNSR
Founded9 September 1921 (9 September 1921)
PresidentErik Mouritsen (DSkyU)
Official website
www.nordicshootingregion.eu

History edit

The Nordic Shooting Region was founded in 1921 in Stockholm as the "Nordic Short-Distance Shooting Association", following discussions at a Danish-Swedish shooting match in Copenhagen.[2] The founding purpose of the organisation was to strengthen ties between sport shooters within the Nordic region, to organise a Nordic Championship and create the best conditions for Nordic shooters to succeed at Olympic Games and World Championships.

Norway hosted the first Nordic championships on the 21st-22nd July 1922.

During the 1960s and 1970s the Nordic Championships were well regarded on the international circuit, and Nordic officials filled many posts in the European Shooting Confederation (ESC) and International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). Great Britain applied for membership in 1971, which was approved on the 30th June 1973.

The importance of the Nordics declined during the 1980s as ISSF World Cups grew in prominence, both filling the calendar and demanding financial commitment from federations and athletes to travel and compete for Olympic quota places. Nordics were held every two years, in odd years from 1979 to 1989, and then in even-number years from 1990 onwards.[3] In the 1990s, Senior events were only included on alternate Championships (every four years), with Juniors competing every two years. From 2006 to 2018, every Nordic Championship was just for Juniors. The 2020 Nordics were cancelled due to COVID-19. In 2022, Finland hosted a full Nordic Championship including Senior events - the first since 2004.[3][4] A General Meeting was held concurrent with the Championship, in which the Danish Union was elected to the Chairmanship of the Region to oversea the 2024 Championships, as well as the revision of the Championship Rules, which were more than 15years old at the time.[5]

In March 2022, the organisation issued an open letter endorsing the IOC condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[6] The NSR called for the European Shooting Confederation to convene an EGM and ensure their leadership was untainted by the war. The ESC President at the time was Russian-born Alexander Ratner. In November 2022, the organisation issued an open letter to all ISSF member federations expressing "deep concern regarding the development of the sport" and calling for stability in the rule book and competition programme.[7] This followed several years of rules and format changes and tweaks to courses of fire - often at the behest of ISSF President Vladimir Lisin. Lisin had departed from the historical precedent of updating the rules once every 4 years (once per Olympic cycle). Lisin narrowly lost his bid for re-election to the ISSF Presidency in December 2022.[8][9]

Member Federations edit

References edit

  1. ^ "nordicshootingregion.com - Constitution of the Nordic Shooting Region". Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  2. ^ Poul H. Glesner (1992). "Our Story - Nordic Shooting Region". Nordic Shooting Region. Archived from the original on 12 April 2023. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Cycle of Nordic Shooting Championships - Nordic Shooting Region". Nordic Shooting Region. 2022. Archived from the original on 12 April 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  4. ^ "Kouvola 2022 - Bulletin #1" (PDF). Nordic Shooting Region. Finnish Shooting Sport Federation. 3 April 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 April 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  5. ^ "Denmark takes over the chairmanship of the Nordic Shooting Region". Skydesport Danmark (in Danish). Kouvola. 7 August 2022. Archived from the original on 13 April 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2023.
  6. ^ "Open letter from the Nordic Shooting Region - Skjótisamband Føroya" (PDf). Skjótisamband Føroya. 8 March 2022. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2023. Additionally, we endorse the condemnation by the IOC of the breach of The Olympic Truce by the Russian Federation and we also support the calls for athletes and officials of both Russia and Our sport must be seen to rise above personal ego and ambitions and now, more than ever, we must play our part in the wider Olympic family. We therefore respectfully request the ESC Presidium to meet at the earliest opportunity before the European Championships in Norway, and to convene an Extraordinary General Assembly to consider and ensure we have a leadership untainted by association, perceived or actual, with the war in Ukraine.
  7. ^ "Letter to all ISSF Federations" (PDF). Norge Skytterforbund. 4 November 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  8. ^ "The ISSF executive committee has a new president: Luciano Rossi". International Shooting Sport Federation. 1 December 2022. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  9. ^ Duncan Mackay (30 November 2022). "Rossi defeats Lisin to be elected new ISSF President". insidethegames.biz. Dunsar Media Company. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  10. ^ Tenglar – SKOTÍÞRÓTTASAMBAND ÍSLANDS

External links edit