A ceremony to open the International Shooting Sport Federation 2016 Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun World Cup has today been held in Baku.

Azerbaijani Minister of Youth and Sports Azad Rahimov, ISSF Vice-President Vladimir Lisin, Vice-President of the Shooting Federation of Azerbaijan Hafiz Jafarov addressed the event.

Azad Rahimov spoke of the development of sports in Azerbaijan, saying the European Grand Prix was held in Baku few days ago.

Vladimir Lisin and Hafiz Jafarov highlighted the Azerbaijani government`s attention to sports, and wished the athletes success.

Some 640 athletes from 80 countries arrived here to compete in the sixth and last world cup stage of the season, which is held at the 2015 European Games shooting venue from the 20th through the 29th of June.

The tournament is the last chance for the best shooters of the world to test their skills on a world-scale event, on their road to Rio 2016. With less than 50 days to go to the Games, the ISSF World Cup in Baku is indeed the largest international shooting competition ahead of the Olympics, and represents a great occasion to prepare for the most important event of the year.