SHOOTING sports are frustrated with their treatment after their exclusion from the list of sports scheduled by UK Sport and Sport England for prioritised investment. The omission comes despite having been in an original UK Sport list of 12 sports, including modern pentathlon, and despite shooting’s medals record at recent Olympics, in which eight medals have been won in five Games.

Shooting lies sixth in the overall list of Great Britain medal-winners at the Olympics. At the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics, there were more than 100 countries participating in the shooting events, surpassed only by athletics and swimming. At the 2002 Commonwealth Games event at Bisley, shooters took 18 medals, including five golds. With eyes focused on the 2012 London Olympics bid, there must be a sense of concern that UK Sport has ignored the undoubted merits of shooting’s record.

John Leighton-Dyson, World Class Performance director for the Great Britain Target Shooting Federation, said: “We satisfy all the criteria set out by both bodies and are meeting our performance targets. For Athens, we have earned more Olympic quota places than ever before. We are a sport for young and old, men and women. There are many shooters with disabilities, for whom shooting is their only sporting activity.”

According to Sport England, the ten priority sports are those in which “the nation wishes to see us do well”. In a statement, it dismissed shooting’s claims, saying: “We do not consider the sport contributes substantially to our overall objectives.”

It added that there will be no reduction in funding between now and the Athens Games and that there would be discussions with the English Target Shooting Federation about future funding and specific investment for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Leighton-Dyson hit out at this dismissal, saying shooting has a well-established network of facilities and clubs nationwide, with a reputation for teaching self-control and discipline exemplified by the safety record of the sport. “We must assume that we are the victims of either blind prejudice or political correctness — or both,” he said.

Although this latest announcement will have done little to boost the confidence of one of the most successful competitive sporting activities in the country, LeightonDyson is still hopeful of further talks with UK Sport to try to redress some of the balance.