Juan Jose Aramburu secured the Skeet Men World Cup title at the 2013 ISSF Shotgun World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The 32-year old shooter from Guipzucoa (ESP) just got married, and did not have time to train before the competition. Nevertheless, he shot consistently throughout the qualification matches, making it to the semi-final with 121 hits. Then, he shot a perfect match, hitting 16 out of 16 targets, accessing the Gold medal match.
There, 2011 World Champion Aramburu met the 2008 Olympic Silver medallist Tore Brovold of Norway, beating him 15 to 14 hits to secure the 2013 ISSF World Cup title.
“I did not expect to achieve a medal, here in Abu Dhabi.” Aramburu said.
“I did not have time to train for finals, before coming here. I just got married, and next to that I've just received a new shotgun from Beretta. I have been training only on normal rounds to get used to it. So I was not prepared to shoot a medal match.”
Once he made it to the Gold medal match, Aramburu knew he had to give his best: “I was so happy of my semi-final full score, that I got into the medal match extremely motivated.”
“When Brovold missed, I finally understood I could make it. I lost one target, but a 15 was enough to win today's match! ”
Aramburu is flying back with the Crystal cup, the trophy of the ISSF World Cup Series, the latest “present” for his wedding.
“I will finally take some time off now. I want to dedicate this medal to my family. I will spend some time at home, now. There's still time to get ready for the 2014 season.”
The winner of this year's ISSF World Cup Stage in Nicosia, Kuwait's Abdullaj Alrashidi, 50, pocketed the Bronze medal outdoing Denmark's reigning Wolrd Champion Jesper Hansen 15 to 14 hits. Alrashidi had previously equalled the world record of 124 hits out of 125 targtes during the qualifications.
Sweden's 26-year old Henrik Jannson placed in fifth with 15 +7 hits in the semi-final after loosing a shoot-off to access the medal matches. He was followed by UAE's Saeed Almaktoum, 37, the 2011 World Cup Final winner, who placed in sixth with 15 + 1 hits.