The ISSF Junior World Cup in Sydney (AUS) closed today at the Sydney International Shooting Centre, where Dou Xuyang of the People’s Republic of China made a fantastic debut on the international scene, taking gold in the Skeet Men Junior and signing a new Junior World Record in this event.
The 19-year-old shooter literally dominated the contest, missing only two of his 60 targets and raising the World Record bar to 58 hits, only one hit behind the senior mark.
The two remaining medals were awarded to two Italian shooters, Matteo Chiti (20) and Niccolò Sodi (19), who couldn’t match the pace set by Dou and respectively placed in 2nd and 3rd position. Chiti took silver with 52 hits out of 60 targets, besting the 3rd place he obtained at last year’s Junior World Cup in Porpetto (ITA); Sodi, instead, pocketed the bronze medal in his international debut, crushing 42 out of his 50 clays.
After entering the final with the highest qualification score, Italy’s third final participant — 19-year-old Elia Sdruccioli — took 4th place with 33 hit targets out of 40.
Also participating in the first ISSF competition of his career, Great Britain’s Luke George Young (18) was the first athlete eliminated from the match after 20 targets, followed ten clays later by India’s 19-year-old Anant Jeet Singh Naruka. Young finished with 11 hits out of 20 targets, while Naruka crushed 24 out of 30.
Italy’s Sdruccioli, Chiti and Sodi also climbed atop the team podium pocketing the gold medal, while India’s Naruka, Ayush Rudraraju and Gurnihal Singh Garcha won silver, and People’s Republic of China’s Dou, Yu Lingfeng and Luo Hongzhao took bronze.
The ISSF season will resume next month with the ISSF World Cup Stage 2, taking place in Changwon (KOR) from April 20th to April 30th.
The competition will be streamed live on the ISSF website, on the Federation’s Livestream channel and on its official Facebook page.
Live results of the competition, 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.