British Shooting is the national governing body for ISSF shooting sport disciplines in the United Kingdom. The organisation serves as a single shooting body to receive public funding from UK Sport and Sport England, administer high performance squads and talent pathways as well as serve as the member body for shooting sports with organisations such as the British Olympic Association and ISSF.[1]
History
British Shooting replaced the GB Target Shooting Federation in 2007 as the single point of contact for organisations including the British Olympic Association, British Paralympic Association and ISSF. Unlike governing bodies for many other sports, BS is not a membership organisation and acts as an umbrella. This is necessary due to the fragmented governance of target shooting sports in the UK, with different disciplines managed by the CPSA, NRA and NSRA amongst others.
The organisation got off to a rocky start, underperforming at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and seeing their funding for the next four year cycle cut by 78%, reducing the number of supported athletes from forty-six to just five.[2]
Since its inception, British Shooting has also absorbed responsibility from the English Target Shooting Federation for administering grass-roots funding from Sport England. It has launched a national Target Sprint series,[3] Schools Championship[4][5][6] as well as a national airgun series.[7] In 2023 the organisation launched a 50M Rifle Series, held at the NSRA's Aldersley centre in the West Midlands.[8]
World Class Performance
Since 2007, British Shooting's performance programmes have produced a number of World and European Champions in Rifle and Shotgun.
In 2018 Seonaid McIntosh became Britain's first female World Champion in a rifle event when she won the Women's 50metre Prone Rifle at the ISSF World Championship in Changwon. In 2019 Seonaid went on to be the first female rifle shooter from Britain to win a Gold Medal at an ISSF World Cup event. She won three World Cup medals in 2019 as well as winning the World Cup Final event in 50m Three Position Rifle, making her the most successful GB female rifle shooter of all time.