Italy’s Double Trap Shooter Chianese Claims First Gold Of ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Nicosia

The ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Nicosia, Cyprus, kicked-off today. Italy’s Chianese beat USA’s Holguin to win the first match of the event, the Double Trap Men final.

The 2016 ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Nicosia (CYP) has been opened by today’s Double Trap Men Final.

The first gold medal of the competition went to Italy’s 25-year old Alessandro Chianese, who climbed atop of the Double Trap podium beating the 2014 ISSF World Cup title winner Jeffrey Holguin of USA, 37, in the Gold medal match.

Chianese hit 28 targets out of 30, leaving Holguin in second with a score of 27 hits, after a thrilling duel. The Italian shooter had never won a world cup medal before, his best placement being a 4th place secured in Beijing in 2014.

The two athletes had to pass through a four-way shoot-off after the semifinal, as they tied with Germany’s Andreas Loew and Australia’s James Willett, with 28 hits.

In the following Bronze medal match, the winner of the 2015 Oceania Championship Willet, 20, beat 34-year old Loew with a score of 26 to 25 hits, pocketing his first world cup medal in career.

Guatemala’s Enrique Brol, 37, and Malta’s three-time Olympian William Chetcuti, 31, closed the semi-final in 5th and 6th places, respectively, with 27 hits each (find the full results here, link).

“The Rio 2016 Olympic team has already been picked, and I am not in. But nevertheless I tried to do my best here,” Chianese said after the match. “We are professionals and we love our sport, so we always aim at the best performance.”

“It has been a tough match. I struggled in my first qualification round, as I shot a 25. The wind was very tricky, and it took me a while to adapt. Then the rest of the competition run smoothly. Once I got into the final match, I told to myself ‘let’s have fun’, and I zeroed in.”

“I really wanted to end up with a good result. I had to pass through a shoot-off during today’s final, but I remembered what happened to me in Beijing in 2014 (when he was knocked out of the final in a tie-breaker, finishing 4th, ed.), so I kept calm and shoot each target trying to avoid the pressure.”

“I am spending half of the year in Australia, during the European winter, so I arrived here in Cyprus well prepared, even if it’s just the beginning of the season,” explained Chianese, who is married to the Australian shooter Stephanie Tigani.. “After today’s victory, I will keep on working hard, and I will wait for another call of my coach Mirco Cenci. I am ready!”

373 athletes from 61 countries are competing in the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Nicosia (the first Shotgun world cup stage of the season) from the 18th through the 24th of March.

The event will continue tomorrow with the Skeet Men Final. After the first qualifications day, the competition sees another Italian shooter, Luigi Lodde atop of the table, with a score 75 targets out of 75. The final will take place tomorrow (March 20) at 3.30 PM (UTC+2), and will be broadcasted live on http://www.issf-sports.org

Egypt’s Guish Prepare To Surprise At Men’s African Club Volleyball Championship

Egypt’s El Guish finalised on Friday their final phase of preparations for the upcoming Men’s African Club Volleyball Championship due to start in Cairo Stadium Complex on Wednesday March 23, 2016.

The leaders of the current Egyptian league finished their training camp in Sharm El Sheikh and return back to Cairo to play 2 friendly matches ahead of the ground breaking competition.

El Guish is considered one of the heavy contenders for the title after their great performance this season as they beat the biggest clubs in Egypt Ahly and Zamalek in their final round matches early this month. They are now one point ahead of the record holders Ahly and 3 points apart from the Egyptian defending champions Zamalek.

The 2007 African runner up will depend on a star studded squad including 5 national team players led by Ahmed Salah who search for another era with his new club after great achievements with the both Egyptian National team and club side Ahly. Among other stars are National team outside hitters Omar Naguib “Taysson”, Elhosseini Samir, middle blockers Rashad Shebl, Mamdouh Abdel Moneim and the Brazilian receiver Maneus Abbadi.

Guish is led by the Ex. Egyptian National team coach Sherif El Shemerly who led them twice to win the African Nations Championship.

Egypt’s El Guish

The 2016 edition of the Men’s African Club Volleyball Championship features 24 teams who will compete for a World Championship ticket

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High-Flying Uzbek Tigers Looking To Seal Play-Off Place With Win Over Azerbaijan Baku Fires

The Uzbek Tigers have already made quite an impact on their first WSB season, winning three of their first four matches and heading up Group D with just two to go. Saturday night’s rematch against Azerbaijan Baku Fires in the capital of Tashkent gives the Tigers a chance to extend their lead even further as they seek to avenge their Week 4 defeat and put one foot in the play-offs.

The hosts have called upon 22-year-old light flyweight Nodirjon Mirzakhmedov for his first WSB outing, and he will get proceedings underway against another newcomer, Baku Fires’ Rasul Saliev.

Tigers’ bantamweight talent Abdulkhay Sharakhmatov has been in superb form so far this season, controlling his Week 2 bout against Puerto Rico’s Edgardo Rolon and going on to defeat Kazakhstan’s two-time WSB Team Champion Meirbolat Toitov. Sharakhmatov now faces Yashar Magomedov, who has also beaten Rolon this year and will provide stiff opposition.

The third bout of the night sees one of the world’s most promising light welterweights, Uzbekistan National Champion Fazliddin Meliboev going for a third straight win of the season against Baku Fires’ Zaur Abdullayev, whose strength and experience should provide a serious test for the top-ranked Uzbek.

Tigers’ 23-year-old middleweight Ulugbek Khakberdiev opened his WSB campaign with a brilliant win over Puerto Rico Hurricanes’ Raul Sanchez in Week 2, and he will be hoping to repeat that result against international newcomer Levani Lukhutashvili. Finally on Saturday, home heavyweight Sardorbek Begaliev makes his WSB debut against the more experienced Haji Murtuzaliyev.

Selby Withdraws From Two Ranking Events

Mark Selby has pulled out of next week’s Ladbrokes Players Championship as well as the China Open later this month.

The world number one has withdrawn from both ranking events for personal reasons.

The Ladbrokes Players Championship runs from March 22 to 27 at Event City in Manchester. Selby was due to face Andrew Higginson in his opening match on Wednesday at 7pm.

World Snooker has replaced Selby in the draw with Matthew Selt. The Ladbrokes Players Championship field is made up by the top 24 players from the European Tour Order of Merit plus two from the Asian Tour and six from a combined list. Selt was the highest player on the European Tour Order of Merit, as well as the combined list, not otherwise qualified.

The match between Selt and Higginson will take place at 1pm on Wednesday while the clash between Kyren Wilson and Ryan Day has been moved to the 7pm session on Wednesday. The updated format is attached.

The China Open runs from March 28 to April 3 in Beijing. Selby, who won the title last year, was due to play Darryl Hill in the first round on March 28. Hill will be given a bye to the last 64.

The following tournament is the Betfred World Championship which starts on April 16th in Sheffield.