London 2012 shooting champ Peter Wilson gunning for Olympic chiefs after they threaten to dump his event from 2020 Games

LONDON 2012 champ Peter Wilson is gunning for shooting chiefs who aim to DUMP his event from the Olympics.

Wilson is furious about suggestions the double trap discipline should be replaced by a team contest at Tokyo 2020.

And he has written to world governing body the ISSF to challenge the plans and urge it to consider a mixed gender double trap competition in which men would have a shootout with women.

Wilson, who retired in 2014 and is now a coach, said: “I would be devastated if double trap was removed from the Olympics — and I think it would be a big mistake.

“One of the arguments seems to be that it is a tough event and has low participation.

“But the Olympics should be about the very best competing in tough disciplines.

“I have spoken to shooters and they would treat any team event as a secondary competition.”

Britain has a good tradition in double trap, with Richard Faulds winning gold at Sydney 2000 and two shooters, Tim Kneale and Steve Scott, heading for Rio.

But the ISSF, like other world governing bodies, is under pressure from the International Olympic Committee to have an equal number of men and women taking part in Tokyo.

Wilson believes a new mixed-sex double trap event would help meet those demands, while at the same time increasing interest and participation in the event and the sport as a whole.

The 29-year-old said: “I have been beaten by women in the double trap and women would be perfectly capable of beating men in other shooting events, too.

“If ever there were a sport in which men and women could compete side by side, it’s shooting.

“It happens in equestrianism. And if men and women can contest an event which involves controlling a half-ton animal, why not one with a gun weighing a few pounds?”