Winning a three-way tiebreaker, the Spanish shooter, ranked 21st in the world, climbed on the highest step of the podium, securing the Gold medal and a pass to the 2012 Olympic Games. Russia, Denmark and UAE finished on the teams’ podium.
It has been a three-way shoot-off to decide today’s Skeet Men Final, the last competition of the 2011 ISSF Shotgun World Championship in Belgrade.
Three shooters, Spain’s Aramburu, Norway’s Brovold and Kuwait’s Alrashidi tied indeed in the lead, with an outstanding total score of 149 hits out of 150 targets.
Fighting for the title and for an Olympic qualification pass, it was Juan Josè Aramburu who eventually won the sudden-death tiebreaker hitting 12 targets, while Brovold finished in second after hitting 11 clays, and Alrashidi secured the Bronze with 9 hits.
After qualifying for the final match in first with an equalled world record of 125 hits out of 125 targets, the Spanish shooter hit 24 targets during the final match, jeopardizing his leadership.
“After the missing that target on the fourth station, I realized I could not miss anymore. – Aramburu said - That has been tough. I zeroed in and I tried to clear the match right to the eighth station.”3
“Conditions were not ideal, the truth is that it has been a difficult match: I was not feeling good in these days, but luckily, thanks to my doctor, I was able to recover just in time for the final round.” He explained.
“I made it: I won the World Championship and I secured and Olympic Quota Place. I am so happy!” Said the 29-year old Spanish shooter, smiling on the podium. Aramburu had never won an ISSF Gold medal before, and his best placement so far had been a third place at the 2006 ISSF World Cup Stage in Suhl (GER).
Today’s victory also brought to Aramburu and Olympic Quota Place, a qualification ticket for the 2012 London Olympic Games. He had participated also in 2008 Games, eventually placing in eighth, right out of the final match.
The Olympic Silver medallist of Beijing, the 41-year old world record holder form Norway Tore Bovold, ended up in second place with 149+11 hits, securing the second World Championship medal of his career (he had closed the 2006 World Championship in third).
The three-time World Champion Abduallah Alrashidi of Kuwait, who was looking here for an Olympic Quota Place, closed the match in third place with 149+9 hits, after missing on his fifth shoot-off double. The 48-year old champion will now try to qualify for the London 2012 Games during the next Asian Championship in Doha, where four Olympic Quota Places will be to be assigned.
The title defender, the 2010 World Champion, Russia’s Valeriy Shomin, did not make it to the podium. After passing through an endless shoot-off to get into the final match (123+16 hits), the 40-year old Russian champion hit 25 targets, but could not reach his opponents on the podium. He eventually closed the match in fourth place, with a total score of 148 hits, followed by Fabio Ramella of Switzerland (fifth with 147 hits) and by Saif Bin Futtais of UAE (sixth with 147 hits, after the count-back).
Russia, Denmark and UAE on the teams’ podium
The Russian team (Valeriy Shomin, Anton Astakhov and Evgeniy Serbin), lead by the reigning World Champion Shomin, place in first upon the teams’ podium with an overall score of 367 hits. They were followed by the Danish team (Martin Holmgaard, Jesper Hansen and Andres Golding), with a total score of 366 hits. The Bronze medal went to United Arab Emirates with 366 hits scored by Saif Bin Futtais, Saeed Almaktoum and Mohamed Ahmad.