Rossi ousts billionaire Lisin to head Olympic shooting body

Under Lisin, the ISSF joined most other Olympic sports by suspending shooters from Russia and its ally Belarus from competing in its events in March, shortly after the invasion began.

Italian official Luciano Rossi has beaten incumbent president and Russian billionaire Vladimir Lisin to become the new head of the governing body for the Olympic shooting.

Rossi beat Lisin to become president of the International Shooting Sport Federation on Wednesday in an unusually close and combative election for an Olympic federation.

In a statement announcing the result on Thursday, the ISSF did not provide a breakdown of the voting, but the German shooting federation said it was 136 to Rossi and 127 to Lisin.

''We are excited to see what the future holds for the ISSF under (Rossi's) leadership,'' the ISSF executive board said in a statement. ''He looks forward to working with all of you to promote the sport of shooting and make it more accessible to people around the world.'' It was the second time Rossi stood against Lisin after losing by four votes for the then-vacant presidency in 2018.

Lisin resisted calls from some ISSF members to step aside as president following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Under Lisin, the ISSF joined most other Olympic sports by suspending shooters from Russia and its ally Belarus from competing in its events in March, shortly after the invasion began.