Crowded Firing Line

TO MAKE SHOOTING -- THERE ARE 13 EVENTS -- MORE ATTRACtive to
spectators, there is now immediate electronic display of scoring. In
the past, the shattering of clay allowed spectators and participants
in trap and skeet events to get an idea of how things were going, but
at other events everybody was left in the dark. Another change: All
events will now culminate in a shootoff placing the highest scorers
-- eight in rifle and pistol events, six in shotgun events and four
in running game -- on the firing line at the same time. In a sport in
which yogalike concentration is paramount, somebody clearing his
throat can give a shooter the yips. Now rivals will be firing, and
coughing, right next to one another.
The pistol events will be dominated by Eastern Europeans,
including Ralf Schumann of East Germany, who has won seven World Cup
rapid-fire events since the start of 1987. In the shotgun events, the
U.S. will send two world-record holders, Matt Dryke (skeet) and Dan
Carlisle (trap) against the traditionally strong entrants from the
U.S.S.R. and Italy. Carlisle will perform rare double duty, competing
in skeet as well. Kirill Ivanov of the U.S.S.R. is the favorite in
both the prone and three-position small-bore events; his competition
in the latter figures to come from world-record holder Petr Kurka of
Czechoslovakia. U.S. team manager Lones Wigger will have a special
rooting interest during the women's air rifle, in which his daughter
Deena will be seeking a medal against several strong competitors,
including Vessela Letcheva and Eva Joo of Hungary.