San Marino’s Alessandra Perilli Grabs Her First World Cup Final Gold medal in Nicosia

The youngest of the two Perilli sisters achieved her most important victory, besting Slovakia’s Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova and claiming the Trap Women Gold medal at the 2015 ISSF World Cup Final.

After placing 4th at the Olympics, at the ISSF World Championship and in 2014 also at the World Cup Final, San Marino’s 27-year old Alessandra Perilli finally climbed the whole podium, claiming the Gold medal at the ISSF World Cup Final in Nicosia (CYP). The most important Gold of her career so far.

“It is! Absolutely! I had a lot of 4th places, but now I made it. I’m so happy!” Declared an emotional Perilli after the medal match.

“During the last three months I always got good scores while I was training, but in competitions my head was not there.” She continued. “In the last month we changed the stock and revolutionized everything, I trained a lot with my coach Luca and now I can’t believe it!”

In the Gold medal match Perilli faced and beat two-time Olympic Silver medallist Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova, 31 of Slovakia, building an early gap of 3 points after 9 targets, and concluding with a 13 to 11 hits win.

San Marino’s Alessandra Perilli grabs her first World Cup Final Gold medal in Nicosia

Silver medallist Stefecekova previously survived a shoot-off against 28-year old Fatima Galvez to enter the Gold medal match, leaving the Spaniard to shoot for the 3rd place, while another shoot-off determined the second participant to the Bronze medal match.

There, Australia’s Laetisha Scanlan, the Silver medallist at this year’s first World Cup stage in Acapulco (MEX), bested Russian shooter Tatiana Barsuk, 6th at the 2014 World Cup Final in Gabala (AZE), who finished the semifinals in 5th place.

Scanlan, unfortunately, was unable to repeat herself when a third and last tie-breaker was needed to decide the Bronze medallist. After her and Spain’s Fatima Galvez finished the medal match tied at 12 hits, the Australian missed her firs shoot-off clay, letting Galvez claim the 3rd place.

6th, with 10 semifinal hits, placed Japan’s Yukie Nakayama.

The ISSF World Cup Final in Shotgun events will continue tomorrow with the last final, the Trap Men, scheduled at 1:30 PM (UTC+3). The live streaming will be available on the ISSF official website: http://www.issf-sports.org/pages/livestream.ashx.

20-year old Gabriele Rossetti Beats Vincent Hancock, Claims The Skeet Men Gold Medal In Nicosia

Italy’s youngster claimed his first Gold medal as a senior shooter at the ISSF World Cup Final in Nicosia (CYP), besting the number 1 in the World Ranking Vincent Hancock of the USA. Denmark’s Jesper Hansen finished on the 3rd step of the podium.

To beat the best he needed the perfect match, and he nailed it.

In the Skeet Men event at the ISSF World Cup Final in Nicosia (CYP), Italy’s Gabriele Rossetti, 20 years old, bested the best shooter in the world in this event, the number 1 in the ISSF ranking Vincent Hancock of the United States, pocketing his first Gold medal as a senior with a final score of 16 hits against Hancock’s 15.

“In Lonato I promised myself a final against Vincent. First of all I was honoured to take part in a Gold medal match against him. I had fun, I told myself to try to beat the best, I felt no pressure and finally I won.” Declared Rossetti after the Gold medal match.

Last month Rossetti finished 3rd in Lonato (ITA), when Hancock claimed his third World Champion title, and also won the Junior Gold medal at the 2014 ISSF World Championship in Granada (ESP).

“Of course the pressure between different competitions varies. But I try to focus on the targets, they are always the same, they don’t change.” He concluded.

Hancock Silver medal is his fifth in an ISSF World Cup Final. “I got close to that target I missed in the second plate, but it was too low. Gabriele shot really really well. I won a lot of medals this year, and this is the one that eluded me.” Said the American.

20-year old Gabriele Rossetti beats Vincent Hancock, claims the Skeet Men Gold medal in Nicosia

Two tie-breaking shoot-off was required to determine the Bronze medal match participants and winner. In the first one, French shooter Anthony Terras was eliminated by Denmark’s Jesper Hansen and United Arab Emirates’ Saif Bin Futtais, after they all concluded the semifinal with 14 hits.

Then, Hansen and Bin Futtais shuttered 14 more medal match targets, entering in a second shoot-off where the Danish athlete prevailed 8 to 7 and claimed the Bronze medal. 6th, with 13 semifinal hits, placed Italy’s Valerio Luchini.

The ISSF World Cup Final in Shotgun events will continue tomorrow, when the Trap Women title will be assigned at 3:30 PM (UTC+3). All the finals will be streamed live on the ISSF website: http://www.issf-sports.org/pages/livestream.ashx.

Great Britain Claims Two Golds In One Day At The ISSF World Cup Final in Nicosia

Amber Hill and Steven Scott finished on top of the podium in the Skeet Women and Double Trap Men event, respectively, rocketing their country on top of the intermediate medal standings.

Amber Hill claimed her first World Cup Final Gold medal and she showed no sign of pressure.

“I just want to enjoy my time out there. If I’m not happy and I’m not enjoying it I tend not to shoot well.” Said the young talented British, who faced and beat 29-year old Sutiya Jiewchaloemmit of Thailand in the Gold medal match, with a final score of 15 to 13 hits.

After they both missed a single target in their first series, Hill shuttered any other clay of her match, while Jiewchaloemmit, a three-times Asian Championship Gold medallist, progressively lost contact and surrendered after Hill’s last perfect series.

ISSF – INTERNATIONAL SHOOTING SPORT FEDERATION

“It’s been a hell of a year for me! I had a bit of a rookie ride at the start, cause I really don’t have much experience in this sport. I started back in 2013, so I’ve only been competing for Great Britain for a few years, but it’s been an incredible few years for me. This really ends my year the perfect way!” Said Hill, who also won the Gold medal at the first edition of the European Games in Baku, last June.

In the Bronze medal match it took a shoot-off to see Morgan Craft claim the 3rd place, after both her and Cyprus’ Andri Eleftheriou concluded with a perfect 16-out-of-16 hits. The Cypriot shooter, despite missing her 6th tie-breaker target, received the warmest applause from the crowd at the Nicosia Olympic Shooting Center.

Two Italian finalists finished the semifinal round outside of the medal matches: Diana Bacosi concluded 6th with 12 hits, while Katiuscia Spada lost a shoot-off to enter the Bronze medal final against Eleftheriou and placed 5th with 13 hits.

A couple of hours after Hill’s victory, 30-year old Steven Scott prevailed over China’s Pan Qiang in the Double Trap Men Gold medal match, claiming the top of the podium with a 27-to-25 hits win.

As both athletes suffered some mistakes in the central part of the match, Scott was then able to shutter his last 16 targets, overtaking Pan definitely and sailing towards the 1st place and the Gold medal.

“Very happy! Very happy!” Said an enthusiastic Scott. “I felt a little nervous missing the first one, especially because Pan beat me the last time we met here in Cyprus. Unfortunately for him today it was my time!”

“It’s pretty amazing!” He concluded, talking about the two Gold medals Great Britain gained in one day. “Obviously Amber led the way, but I was thinking about it in the back of my head, jokingly, and then it came to life.”

Both Scott and Pan qualified with an almost perfect semifinal score of 29, distancing themselves from India’s Asab Mohd and from a second British shooter, Tim Kneale, the Silver medallist at the World Championship held in Lonato (ITA) last month, who both qualified for the Bronze medal match with 28 semifinal hits.

There, Mohd placed a perfect performance, hitting all of his 30 targets against Kneale 27, and pocketing an international medal for the first time in his career.

Out of the medal matches, People’s Republic of China’s Hu Binyuan finished 5th with 27, despite qualifying for the semifinal with the overall best score of 144 hits; Italy’s Antonino Barillà placed 6th also with 27 targets.

The ISSF World Cup Final will continue today with the Skeet Men event, whose final phase is scheduled at 1:30 PM (UTC+3). All the finals will be streamed lived on the ISSF website: http://www.issf-sports.org/pages/livestream.ashx.

All finals will be streamed live on http://www.issf-sports.org.