The Asian Shooting Championships, the last continental championship for qualification to the Athens Summer Olympics 2004, have been assured of 30 quota places by the ISSF.

The National Shooting Association of Malaysia, who are the organisers of ASC, said in a statement that the status of the championships would not be affected by its postponement from Aug, 2003 to Feb 8-18, 2004. The postponement was granted due to an outbreak of SARS in Southeast Asia from March to June.

NSAM executive secretary Major Jasni Shaari said: “We’ve been officially informed by ISSF secretary general Horst G. Schreiber that there would be no change to the quota places allocated for ASC.”

Apart from the quota places, he said that ISSF have also granted MQS status for ASC, meaning those who beat the minimum qualifying standards would be considered for the Olympics.

“Now that ASC’s status has been confirmed, we hope the Asian nations would send their best shooters for the championship. This is their last chance to make the cut for the Athens Olympics,” he said.

Major Jasni said the current response from ASC members has been encouraging, with more than 610 shooters and officials having confirmed their attendance.

For the first time, the 10th ASC will cater to junior shooters. A total of eight events have been allotted for the men juniors and five for the junior women. The men senior will contest 13 events while the women seniors will shoot in 10 events.

So far 22 nations have despatched their entries to NSAM while 18 have yet to do so. NSAM are confident that the total participation will exceed 700 shooters and officials from at least 30 nations.

The closing date for entries is Dec 15, 2003.

The new dates were decided following the uneasiness expressed by some Middle East nations about the SARS outbreak in East Asia and Southeast Asia from March to June.