The 36-year old shooter celebrated with his 15-year old daughter, competing here in her first world cup. Olympic Quotas went to Greece’s Nikolas Mavrommatis (silver) and Denmark’s Jesper Hansen (bronze).
The Cypriot shooter Antonakis Andreou, 36, won today’s Skeet Men event at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Beijing, China.
Andreou finished on the highest step of the podium by equalling the world record, hitting 125 out of 125 targets at the qualifications.
Entering the medal match with two targets of advantage on his followers, the Cypriot athlete scored 22 out 25 targets, closing the competition in first with a total score of 147 hits.
“This victory pays off all these years of hard work!” A 20-year long hard work: Andreou said. Shooting since 1990, had never won an ISSF World Cup medal, before.
“I have a special teammate: my daughter. Panaiyota is 15-year old, and this was her first World Cup.” The proud father explained.
“It’s like a family team!”
“Every time she’s with me I win something: I secured an Olympic Quota Place, last year, at the world championship in Munich, while she was competing there as a junior.” Andreou had indeed already secured the Olympic qualification by finishing in fourth at last year’s ISSF World Championship in Munich.
Five shooters had qualified for the final behind him, with a tie score of 123 hits. It was Nikolas Mavrommatis of Greece who won the hurdle claiming the Silver medal with a total score of 146 (123+23) targets. The 30-year old shooter also pocketed an Olympic Quota Place, a pass to the next Olympics.
And an Olympic Quota Place also went to the Bronze medallist, Denmark’s Jesper Hansen, 30, who won his first ISSF medal with 145 (123+22) hits, after outdoing Norway’s Tore Brovold and Cyrpus’ Gerogios Achilleos in a shoot-off with 4 hits.
The 2008 Olympic Silver medallist Brovold ended up in fourth place, with a total score of 145 + 3 hits, while the second Cypriot shooter, the 2007 World Champion, placed fifth with 145 + 1 targets.
Ivo Hilser of Czech Republic, a firs time finalist, closed the round in sixth and last place. After making it into the final with 123 targets, he shot 21 clays, for an overall score of 144 hits.
The 2011 ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Beijing is taking place on the layouts of the 2008 Olympic Clay Target Field of Beijing from the 19th through the 28 of April. More than 350 athletes compete in these days, trying to secure one of the ten Olympic Quota places, the passes to London 2012, awarded here.