She had won the 1992 Games beating men and women. She’s now looking forward to London, as the Current Olympic Champion Chiara Cainero does. The Italian shooters secured indeed a Quota Place for the next Games, today.
The 1992 Olympic Champion of Barcelona, Shan Zhan of China won today’s Skeet Women event at the ISSF World Cup in Concepcion, Chile.
The 42-year old shooter, ranked 20th in the world nowadays, finished atop of the scoreboard with a total score of 97 hits. After qualifying for the final with 72 hits, the Chinese athlete played a perfect final, clearing 25 out of 25 targets to win her first ISSF World Cup Gold since 1998.
“I prepared this match to win. I am still hoping for the next Games.” Zhang said. She had won the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona outdoing men and women, in a mixed event that was then discontinued starting from the 1996 Games of Atlanta.
“Unfortunately, I will not be at the next World Cup in Sydney, as I did not make it through our internal selections.” She said “I am a coach now, and I am coaching some of my teammates. So, it’s not that easy to be prepared for the international competitions…”
The 2008 Olympic Champion, Chiara Cainero, 32, secured an Olympic Quota Place, a ticket to the London Games, just by entering today’s final. The Italian sharp-shooter from Udine qualified with 72 hits, finishing then in sixth with a total score of 96 targets. Enough to pocket the Quota, as the other countries represented in the final had already filled their Olympic spot.
“This is the third quota place of my career, after Athens and Beijing. I have been working a lot for this, and I am glad that I could secure the Olympic spot at the beginning of the season” Cainero said.
“I will be in Sydney, at the next World Cup, since I have already booked the competition. Then, with my coach, I will redesign my training plans: I have to get ready for London!”
The Silver medal went to the second Chinese finalist, the 2004 Olympic Silver medallist Wei Ning, who finished on the podium with 96 hits, after outdoing USA’s Jaiden Grinnell in a shoot-off by 22 to 21 hits. Wei, 28, had already secured an Olympic Quota Place for the 2012 London Games last August, when she placed in second at the 50th ISSF World Championship in Munich.
Jaiden Grinnell, 19-year old, had never made it to an ISSF World Cup final round, before. The American shooter, qualified with 72 hits, shot 24 targets in the final, securing the Bronze with a total score of 96 clays.
The ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Concepcion will continue tomorrow, with the Trap Women Finals, which will take place at 16.00, Chile time (GMT-3).