Andrea Arsovic won today's 10m Air Rifle Women final at the ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning, claiming Serbia's third gold out of four events conducted so far.
Serbia keeps on climbing the podium of the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Fort Benning. After the victory of Stefanovic at yesterday's 10m Air Rifle Men final and the Gold medal claimed by Mikec at the 50m Pistol Men event earlier today, Andrea Arsovic finished in the spotlights by winning the 10m Air Rifle Women match, this afternoon.
The 28-year old Serbian shooter, ranked 3rd in the world, moved atop of the scoreboard after the seventh final shot, and battled right to the end of the match against Croatia's Snjezana Pejcic to secure the brightest medal.
The match was decided by three tenths. Arsovic recorded a winning score of 208.1 points, leaving Pejcic in second place with 207.8 points, and coming back on an ISSF podium seven months after her last medal, won at the 2014 World Cup Final in Gabala.
“I am so happy that I am finally back in good conditions!” Arsovic said.
“I had already won a quota place for the Rio Olympic Games at last year's ISSF World Championship, so I started-off this season trying to score good results. But I had some troubles with my rifle – I have a new one now – and with my trainings, and I could not give my best.” She explained.
“I am happy that I am back in top form now, this season is so important for me. I want to improve on the road leading to Rio. I am working for an Olympic medal.”
The Fort Benning's shooting venue, which has been renewed this year with the addition of a new finals' range, turned out to be a lucky spot for the Serbian team. It also helped Arsovic, she claimed.
“It's really nice to have a new finals' hall here in Fort Benning. It's my fifth time competing here, I made it to six finals matches, and I have to say that having a dedicated range for the finals is much better. There's a lot of space for the spectators, and I love supporters cheering behind me when I am competing. That gives me a lot of motivation, and I would like to thank today's spectators for their support.”
Arsovic's victory places Serbia atop of the world cup's medal standings: the country has already achieved 3 Gold medals, after 4 out of 10 events conducted.
“It's a great world cup stage for our team. We've a new federation's coach - Srecko Pejovic - and together with our rifle coach Dragan Donevic they made a new preparation plan which turned out to be really good for us.” Arsovic commented. “Serbia has been doing great here in Fort Benning, and I hope we will get even more medals and quotas in the next days.” She concluded, smiling.
The 2008 Olympic Bronze medallist Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia (32) - who arrived here in Fort Benning after winning the air rifle match at the first rifle and pistol world cup of the season in Changwon - pocketed today's Silver medal with 207.8 points. She was followed by Denmark's 24-year old Stine Nielsen, ranked 10th in the world in this event, who claimed the Bronze with 184.5 points.
The three medallists had already secured Rio 2016 Quota places at previous events, so the three Olympic qualification slots to be distributed today went to Mongolia's Gankhuyag Nendinzaya (20), fourth with 163.4 points, to USA's Sarah Beard (23), fifth with 142.7 points, and to Egypt's first-time finalist Shimaa Hashad (34), sixth with 122.0 points.
First-time finalist Chuluunbadrakh Narantuya of Mongolia (29), ranked 46th in the world, was the first to leave the match after the 8th final shot, taking eighth place with 79.3 points. The 28-year old Spanish shooter Nuria Vega (28) followed her after the tenth shot, closing the final in seventh place with 101.2 points.
The ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Fort Benning will continue tomorrow, with the 50m Rifle Prone Men assigning two more Rio 2016 Quota Places. The final will be broadcasted live on www.issf-sports.org, at 11.15 (GMT-4).