Kimberly Rhode of the United States of America and Matsuda Tomoyuki of Japan have been named the 2017 female and male Shooter of the Year, definitely sealing the 2017 season of shooting sport.
Both athletes won three World Cup medals along the season, then closing the year by clinching the crystal globe at the ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi (IND). Rhode (38) — who took women’s Skeet Gold in New Delhi and Acapulco (MEX), also winning Silver in Larnaka (CYP) — hit 56 targets in the final event of the season, securing her second consecutive ISSF seasonal title and also equalling the Skeet Women World Record.
42-year-old Matsuda Tomoyuki also took the spotlight in the Indian capital city, climbing on the highest step of the podium at the ISSF World Cup Stage 1 and also pocketing the first ISSF World Cup Final title of his career a few months later, setting a new World Record on both occasions: first scoring 240.1 points, then nailing 241.8.
Along with the men’s 10m Air Pistol Gold won at the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range, Matsuda took Silver twice during the 2017 ISSF World Cup Series: in Munich (GER) and Gabala (AZE), both times in the 10m Air Pistol Men event.
Here’s the top-10 athletes of the male ranking:
- Matsuda Tomoyuki (JPN)
- Istvan Peni (HUN)
- Pavlo Korostylov (UKR)
- Antonio Bailon (ESP)
- Gabriele Rossetti (ITA)
- Jitu Rai (IND)
- Alberto Fernandez (ESP)
- Sergey Kamenskiy (RUS)
- Oleh Omelchuk (UKR)
- Torben Grimmel (DEN)
And the top-10 shooters of the female ranking:
- Kimberly Rhode (USA)
- Yuemei Lin (CHN)
- Jessica Rossi (ITA)
- Shi Mengyao (CHN)
- Jolyn Beer (GER)
- Zhang Jingjing (CHN)
- Dania Jo Vizzi (USA)
- Ray Bassil (LBN)
- Andrea Arsovic (SRB)
- Katharina Monika Jacob (USA), Penny Smith (AUS)
“It feels amazing! It’s been actually an incredible year for me, I worked so hard leading up to it, and it’s great to see it all come together. This is just an incredible honour, I’m super excited!” said Rhode.
“My goal now is to keep competing at the same level as I did in 2017…” she concluded. “At the end of the day, making the points and getting the quota are the main goals this year.”
“I feel honored,” commented the Japanese athlete. “To win this prize is an honour, and I will keep the memory of it as one of the most valuable moments in my career as a shooter and in my life.”
“The top event this year will be the ISSF World Championship in Changwon,” Matusda added. “I trained a lot for it, and to win there is my main goal this season.”
The award was assigned by the International Shooting Sport Federation according to the vote of the ISSF Coaches Advisory Committee, the ISSF Athletes Committee and a selected panel of media representatives.
Matsuda and Rhode — who respectively follow Italy’s Niccolò Campriani and Greece’s Anna Korakaki in the list of winners — will be honored with the trophy during the 2018 ISSF Season, kicking-off in a few weeks in Guadalajara (MEX), where the first stage of the 2018 ISSF World Cup Series will take place from March 1st to March 12th.
Live results of all the ISSF competitions, news and updates will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.