In a statement, the ISSF said the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had issued a termination order after the President of the Italian Skeet Shooting Federation decided not to continue with his appeal.

According to the worldwide governing body, Rossi, who lost by 148 votes to 144 to Russian Vladimir Lisin in a knife-edge election last November, withdrew it after "receipt of ISSF's answer facing the indisputability of the arguments submitted by the ISSF".

A source close to the ISSF told insidethegames that Rossi, a former vice-president of the ISSF who has been embroiled in a longstanding row with the leadership following his election defeat, had withdrawn his appeal to CAS last month.

"CAS confirmed that the ISSF is deemed to have prevailed in the matter and therefore obliged Luciano Rossi to bear the arbitration costs and to pay a contribution to ISSF's legal expenses incurred by his senseless appeal," the ISSF said.

The Italian official had sought to annul the result of the election, which he claimed was "null and void".

A 39-page appeal brief, naming Rossi as appellant, claimed to have unearthed "concrete evidence" that the elections were "irregular".

It alleged there was "strong evidence that severe manipulations of the elections occurred".

It also stated that Rossi "requested clarification on the elections" in December 2018, and reiterated the request "many times", but only "learned of the irregularities of the elections" in June.

Rossi alleged specifically that there is "strong evidence" that two bodies - the Cayman Island Sport Shooting Association and the Saint Lucia Shooting Association - were deprived of the opportunity to vote for him "by not accepting the proxy letter of Cayman Islands and arbitrarily suspending Saint Lucia".

It is further alleged that without the ISSF's "undue interference and manipulations, the appellant would have obtained 148 votes and tied with Mr Lisin".

The case marked the latest dispute between the ISSF and Rossi, who was initially barred from standing in the Presidential election after the Ethics Committee handed him a three-year suspension in May 2018.

He was accused of numerous ethics violations by the ISSF Ethics Committee, including an alleged conflict of interest, disloyalty and failing to act with credibility and integrity in his capacity as vice-president.

But his ban was cut to three months on appeal, with CAS verdict stating "the appearance of possible personal and/or political motivation has been allowed to enter into the Executive Committee's actions against Mr Rossi and indeed the Ethics Committee's endorsement of extensive punishment".

Rossi then reportedly received death threats on the eve of the Presidential vote, prompting the International Olympic Committee to ask about safety measures.

insidethegames has contacted Rossi for comment.