Cyprus’ Achilleos secured Gold at his first World Cup Stage of the year. Preparing for the World Championship and the Commonwealth Games, the 29-year old athlete had skipped Acapulco and Beijing.
The 2007 World Champion, Cyprus’ Georgios Achielleos, secured the Skeet Men Gold medal at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup Stage in Dorset. The 29-year old athlete finished in first place with a total score of 146 (123+23) hits, coming back atop of an ISSF podium one year after his victory at the 2009 World Cup in San Marino.
Making into the final with a qualification score of 123 hits, Achielleos moved into the lead after the fourth station. Missing just two targets, the Cypriot champion cleared the final with a score of 23 hits out of 25 targets, climbing atop of the podium with a total score of 146 hits to secure the fourth ISSF World Cup Gold medal of his career.
“Today’s targets have been difficult for everybody. All the shooters complained about them: targets seem to be harder than usual.” Said Achielleos after the match.
“I was really focused anyway, I tried not to think about it… I had been working hard for this final and I think I deserved the medal!” Added Achielleos “This is my first World Cup Stage of the year. We skipped Acapulco and Beijing, as we will take part in the Commonwealth Games, in October, and therefore we started a little bit later: the season is long, this year.”
Following him, Greece’s Efthimios Mitas, 24, claimed Silver with 145 hits, outdoing by 4 to 3 targets Russia’s Valery Shomin in a shoot-off for the second step of the podium. Mitas had never won an ISSF medal before, and his best placement in an ISSF World Cup had been a sixth place at last year’s World Cup in Cairo (EGY).
Valery Shomin, who had squeezed into the final match throughout a shoot-off with a qualification score of 122+8 hits, scored 23 targets during the final match. Loosing the second shoot-off of his match against Mitas, the 38-year old Russian athlete landed in third place, securing Bronze with a total score of 145+3 hits.
Today’s final did not turn into a lucky match for the 2008 Olympic Champion, the 21-year old American shooter Vincent Hancock. Making it into the final tied to Achilleos with a qualification score of 123 hits, the young champion dropped four targets throughout the final, finishing in fourth with 144+5 hits, after outdoing China’s Wang Ying in a shoot-off.
After winning the first two World Cup Stages of the year in Acapulco and Beijing, he current number one in the world in this event, Norway’s Tore Brovold, finished in eighteenth place, with a score of 119 hits. “I had not enough time to recharge the batteries – Said Brovold – I passed a week in Beijing, after the last World Cup, due to the volcanic cloud. I could not rest and train between the two Cups.” Explained the Norwegian athlete, who will compete in the next ISSF World Cup Stage, in Lonato (ITA) in June.