UT – World Championship 2026

On reflection, a few points need to be clarified concerning the World Championships in Melbourne 2026.

Firstly, we definitely want to be able to send various category teams to Melbourne, assuming that a fully credible team can be made up in each category according to the selection criteria previously announced.  We should not make any concessions – either shooters qualify, or they do not. There is a possibility therefore that we will not have teams in all six categories.

UT shoot entries are not what they used to be, so funds are tight.  For a few years now we have only been able to fund the individual team members’ entry fee and the team entry fee (€100 per category). Broadly speaking, the European Championships are usually funded from the proceeds of the first two selection shoots of the year, the World Championships from the third and fourth selection shoots of the year. 2026 will of course be different due to reverse timings of the Euros and Worlds.

It is unlikely at the moment that there will be enough money in the kitty to pay individual team member entry fees up front.  We hope to have enough to cover the team entry fees – €600.

We will have a clearer picture after the last selection shoot at the end of September. Until then we want to put potential team members on notice that they may have to fund, or part fund, their own entry fee for the Worlds.  We could look at the funds available after the first two selection shoots to see if we can cover the entry costs of the World team members.

As there will be four selection shoots before the 2026 European Championships in September, there should be enough money to fund the entry fees in full for that shoot. At that time again, if necessary, the money situation will be looked at to see if there are any surplus monies which could be paid out to those who attended the World Championships.

We appreciate the situation is far from satisfactory but please bear with us, we must work within the financial constraints of the discipline.