Eight quota places for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be up for grabs at the third stage of the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Changwon ©ISSF

Eight quota places for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be up for grabs at the third stage of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Shotgun World Cup in Changwon, where action is due to begin tomorrow.

The top two finishers in the skeet and trap events for both men and women will secure slots for their country.

Some 358 athletes from 57 countries are scheduled to compete at Changwon International Shooting Range.

Among them is the United States' Kim Rhode, who has won the women’s skeet at each of this year’s previous two ISSF Shotgun World Cups, in Mexican city Acapulco in March and Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates last month.

The United States' Kim Rhode will be aiming to defend her women's skeet title ©Getty Images
The United States' Kim Rhode will be aiming to defend her women's skeet title ©Getty Images

Rhode is also the defending champion in Changwon having won last year with a world record score of 58 targets out of 60 in the final, beating Great Britain’s Amber Hill.

Also hoping to retain their titles are the US’s Vincent Hancock in the men’s skeet, Italy’s Mauro De Filippis in the men’s trap and Finland’s Satu Mäkelä-Nummela in the women’s trap.

A mixed trap event is also set to be held in the South Korean city that hosted the 2018 ISSF World Championships.

Forty nations from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania have already secured their participation at Tokyo 2020, with 113 out of 300 individual quota places allocated so far.