Commonwealth Games . . . pairs shooting?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 9:29 am

Can someone explain how the 10m air rifle "pairs" (and 10m air pistol "pairs") events work?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 10:20 am

It's quite simple. A pair of shooters from a country shoot that match, and their scores are added together. The pair with the highest aggregate score wins. An olympic style final is not shot.

The "pairs" matches are seperate to the individual matches. So if you are entered for both the pairs and individual events you will shoot two matches for that discipline.

Pairs matches are shot in most, if not all, Commonwealth shooting events.

Tim S

Exeter, UK

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 2:11 pm

Follow up question:

Does the pairing happen before or after the pairs match is actually shot??

In other words, after the pairs match is shot, does a country just get to take the top two shooters and call them "a pair" or are the competitors paired up BEFORE shooting the match??

I've always been mystified about BE and some other disciplines "team match" concept. This is where its only AFTER everyone shoots in the team match that the "team" is actually selected from among the best scorers.

This "shoot first - pick a team later" concept kind of defeats the whole purpose of having a real team I think.

David Levene · Post by **David Levene** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 2:27 pm

Anonymous wrote:Does the pairing happen before or after the pairs match is actually shot??

In other words, after the pairs match is shot, does a country just get to take the top two shooters and call them "a pair" or are the competitors paired up BEFORE shooting the match??

For the Commonwealth Games each country is only allowed to enter 1 pair in the Pairs event and 2 shooters in the Individual event.

It is not compulsory to enter the Pairs event. I'm afraid I cannot remember whether, if you do enter the Pairs, those same shooters are the only ones allowed to shoot in the Individual match. I have never heard of different shooters being entered but that doesn't mean that it can't. I should know because I became ill after the CF Pairs match in 1990 and the coach suggested I could be replaced for the individual. Having travelled to the other side of the World I was not about to let that happen. We therefore didn't get to test whether it was possible.

The other complication is that team sizes are limited so, invariably, several shooters will need to shoot in more than one event (or that country may not enter all events). This limiting of team sizes is not confined to the Commonwealth Games. The maximum team size for ISSF World Championships is limited and the split is defined by rule 3.6.8.1.

Nicole Hamilton · Post by **Nicole Hamilton** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 2:29 pm

Guest wrote:I've always been mystified about BE and some other disciplines "team match" concept. This is where its only AFTER everyone shoots in the team match that the "team" is actually selected from among the best scorers.

This "shoot first - pick a team later" concept kind of defeats the whole purpose of having a real team I think.

Depends what you think the purpose of a team is supposed to be. Is winning all that counts or is it more than that?

Since only the top 3 or 4 (or whatever) scores are counted, everyone is always delighted to see a new shooter because, who knows, maybe tonight they'll shoot way better than they ever have in their whole life. And even if they don't, so what, everyone still gets to have a good time, getting to know and shooting with the same people every week. It's a wonderfully inclusive social experience, especially for newcomers. What it avoids is the possibility that a team might discourage novices from joining just because they might pull down the average.

For anyone who remembers being picked last for team sports as a kid, I think this is one of the best policies I've ever seen!

deleted1 · Post by **deleted1** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:36 pm

That's the method used by the New York State Empire Games for the Shooting events. The local region holds trials and send two topshooters plus an alternate to each event---the two shooters comprise a team for each of the venues---and also shoot on an individual bases. In pistol the following events are contested: Free Pistol, Air Pistol, Olympic RF (with .22short pistols), and an amazing new event for the women---Women's Standard Pistol, not Women's Sport Pistol.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 6:17 pm

Never even thought to look at it that way Nicole. Seems like the system places an emphasis on inclusion as well as culling the best scores. I admit that this is much more fun and desireable.

Thanks for setting me straight.

Jose Rossy · Post by **Jose Rossy** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 10:58 pm

I don't know about air rifle, but when someone says pair firing to me, what comes to mind is two fullbore shooters on the same mound alternating shots on the same target.

RobStubbs · Post by **RobStubbs** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 3:04 am

In this instance it is all about winning. The commonwealth games is a very high profile event and it gets a lot of media coverage - even the shooting hasn't been too bad. And we all know only medal winners make the news. Countries only have a maximum of two shooters per event so they can't pick which to make the pair with.

Rob.

Fortitudo Dei · Post by **Fortitudo Dei** » Fri Mar 24, 2006 4:14 am

RobStubbs wrote:In this instance it is all about winning. The commonwealth games is a very high profile event and it gets a lot of media coverage - even the shooting hasn't been too bad.

Absolutely! I've just seen a interview during prime-time on our main national television channel with Greg Yelavich who has just won silver in Centrefire for New Zealand. I was stunned to say the least (and it was a great interview).

Scottyboy · Post by **Scottyboy** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:24 pm

Commonwealth games gets for more coverage in shooting than Olympics, even Scotland got some TV air time!!

Scott, Dumfries, Scotland

RobStubbs · Post by **RobStubbs** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 5:50 am

Scottyboy wrote:Commonwealth games gets for more coverage in shooting than Olympics, even Scotland got some TV air time!!

Scott, Dumfries, Scotland

That's because the UK feeds were just bought from the Aussies and the BBC had no say in their content. That said they still had bits of the shooting in the actual program on BBC2.

Rob.

Spencer · Post by **Spencer** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 5:32 am

That's because the UK feeds were just bought from the Aussies and the BBC had no say in their content. That said they still had bits of the shooting in the actual program on BBC2.

Rob,
the word balderdash springs to mind - far be it for a simple colonial to suggest that the BBC might be handling the facts in a cavalier manner.
But...
the host broadcaster typically tapes effectively ALL the shooting events at Olympics and Commonwealth Games. Certainly at Melbourne ALL 10m and 25m shooting was taped, and available IF IT WAS WANTED (yes, naturally dollars are involved as in any Games sport - but they pay for the other sports!)

Having been involved in the various aspects of Comm and Olympic Games for some years, I have a good idea of what does and does not happen with TV availability - and I hate dissembling. Don't accept Less Integritious Experimental Suggestions

Regards,
Spencer