Clay pigeon shooting is another name for which shooting event?

Clay pigeon shooting is a shotgun shooting sport in which competitors shoot at flying clay targets, called "clay pigeons", launched into the air by a machine called a "trap". Trap shooting is the best-known form of clay pigeon shooting, and the terms are often used for each other.

Why "clay pigeons"?

In the 19th century, shooters practised by shooting at live pigeons released from boxes or "traps". Later, glass balls and then clay discs replaced live birds. The discs kept the name "clay pigeons", although they are now usually made of a mixture of pitch (or other materials) and limestone. A standard target is about 110 mm in diameter.

Main forms of clay target shooting (shotgun events):

Skeet: targets are thrown from two houses (a high house and a low house) on either side of a semicircle, crossing in front of the shooter, who shoots from eight stations.

Double trap: two targets are thrown at the same time; it was an Olympic event from 1996 to 2016.

Olympic shotgun events today are trap and skeet (men's, women's and mixed team).

Indian achievements in shotgun shooting:

• Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore won silver in double trap at the 2004 Athens Olympics, India's first individual Olympic silver.
• Manavjit Singh Sandhu became world champion in trap in 2006.
• At the 2022 Asian Games (held in 2023), the Indian men's trap team (Kynan Chenai, Zoravar Singh Sandhu and Prithviraj Tondaiman) won gold.

Other shooting disciplines:

• Rifle: 10 m air rifle, 50 m rifle three positions (kneeling, prone and standing).
• Pistol: 10 m air pistol, 25 m pistol, 25 m rapid fire pistol.
• Running target: shooting at a moving target; it was dropped from the Olympics after 2004.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Air pistol shooting uses a fixed paper or electronic target at 10 m.
• ✗Rifle prone shooting is a rifle event in which the shooter lies down.
• ✗Running target shooting uses a moving target, not a clay pigeon.