India’s Tomar claimed Silver, her first ISSF World Cup Medal, finishing four targets behind Del Din “I am so happy, I struggled with the weather, but I managed to foucus on my targets during the final” said the 27-year old Indian shooter, who had never made into an ISSF final round before.
place under the sun, here in rainy Dorset. The 40-year old shooter, coming from the smallest participating country, climbed upon the highest step of the podium with a total score of 92 hits, leaving her opponents four targets behind her.
Starting the morning qualifications with a 22-hit series, Del Din peaked scoring 24 and 25 targets in the second and third qualification series. Walking into the final with a qualification score of 71 hits, Del Din zeroed in and shot consistently right to the end, hitting 21 out of 25 final targets in spite of the slight wind blowing from the right.
Del Din, a 2007 World Championship Bronze medallist, had won her first World Cup Gold medal one year ago, in Cairo. “I could not imagine I was going to win a Gold here in Dorset” Said San Marino’s ace shooter “We started our preparation later on, this year. I was thinking at this World Cup as a chance to get ready for Lonato, and I was not even thinking about the final”.
“Conditions were good, we just struggled a little bit with the weather. Making into the final, I felt confident, and I just kept on focusing on the targets.”
“My nest aims? I will be in Lonato, at the next World Cup Stage, in June. And then I will travel to the European Championship and to the World Championship in Munich. But I don’t want to talk about quotas, now…” concluded Del Din.
Finishing in second place behind her, the Indian athlete Seema Tomar, 27, won her first ISSF World Cup Medal ever, securing the Silver with a score of 88 hits. Qualified with 70 hits, she scored 18 targets during the final, ending her first final in second “I am so happy, and my team too! We are going to celebrate all together!” she exclaimed “I was really nervous, at the beginning. I had never competed in a World Cup final round, before! But then I managed to calm down and zero in on the targets”.
Bronze went to Maria Volkova of the Russian Federation, third with 87 hits, while Italy’s Giulia Iannotti and Slovakia’s Jana Mezeiova scored 86 targets, placing in fourth and fifth after a shoot-off. Susanne Kiermaier of Germany finished in sixth with 84 hits