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Target shooting for sport dates further back than we might expect. In 1463 the St. Sebastianus Shooting Club was founded in Cologne. It even provided its members, who used a type of compressed air rifle, with an underground shooting range.

The National Rifle Association was formed rather later in 1860 at Wimbledon. Members competed for the Sovereign's Prize, an annual event sponsored by Queen Victoria herself, who donated the £250 prize money.

Shooting is now a hugely popular sport, with millions of devotees the world over, and has been part of the Comonwealth Games since 1966.

Enthusiasts can expect to see several disciplines at Manchester 2002:

Open Rifle
Also known as the fullbore rifle, the discipline challenges competitors over distances from 300 to 1,000 yards, using the 7.62mm calibre single shot target rifles. Shots are fired from the prone position and telescopic sights are not allowed. Competitors rely on experience and their own judgement to allow for all the prevailing conditions, such as wind speed and direction. The rifles must conform to strict specifications and the ammunition is issued by the organisers to ensure that all participants compete on equal terms. This is the only Commonwealth Games event contested equally by men or women.

Clay Pigeon
Competitors in the Clay Pigeon Events shoot at flying clay disks of about 10 cm in diameter. These disks are released from a machine called a 'trap' to the familiar cry of 'Pull!'. There are a number of disciplines in the Manchester 2002 Clay Pigeon events and each varies according to the number and combination of target disks that are released and how many shots are permitted per target.

Smallbore and Air pistol events
Target shooting encompasses a very broad range of disiplines and the following fall in this broad category: smallbore rifle; smallbore pistol; air rifle; air pistol and centre fire pistol. There are several categories in these events each with differing ranges, shooting positions, target exposure and shot limits.

Great Britain won a total of 14 Gold, 15 Silver and 19 Bronze medals in the shooting events at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Can we expect to see an equally high standard of achievement at Manchester 2002?