Today's Trap Men final ended up with Italy's Massimo Fabbrizi shooting a selfie atop of the podium, surrounded by Australia's Michael Diamond and India's Manavjit Singh Sandhu.
Smiles followed a tough final match. London 2012 Olympic Silver medallist Massimo Fabbrizi of Italy, 37, met Australia's two-time Olympic Gold medallist Michael Diamond, 42, in the Gold medal match, after they had both scored 13 out of 15 targets in the semi-final.
Fabbrizi, entering the match as the reigning Wolrd Cup champion after his victory at the 2014 ISSF World Cup Final in Gabala, zeroed in and scored 12 targets, one target more than Diamond, and climbed atop of the podium winning the first Trap Men Gold medal of the season. Most importantly, he pocketed one of the two Olympic Quota places to be awarded today, booking a spot at Rio 2016.
“I am so happy. Winning the first Wolrd Cup match of the season feels great, and I have achieved my goal: now Italy has two Olympic quotas in this event.” Fabbrizi said, right after the match. His teammate Pellielo had indeed already won an Olympic spot at the 2014 ISSF World Championship in Granada.
“Now we have two Quotas for Rio, the maximum number allowed per country in this event. That means we can work in preparation of the Games with less stress. We're in, now we have to get ready for it.”
“Shooting shoulder and shoulder with Diamond is always a great experience.” Fabbrizzi said, commenting on today's final.
“I consider him as the best Trap shooter of the world, and being in a medal match against him is an honor.”
“I have been a bit lucky, today.” Confessed the Italian athlete. “It's not easy to come from the Italian winter to compete under Acapulco's sun. I shot a bad series (22 hits) during the qualifications, but luckily I was able to recover and to clear all other rounds right to the end.”
Diamond, who had finished the qualifications atop of the scoreboard with 124 hits, missing only one target out of 125 over two days, eventually dropped four targets in the medal match, closing the competition in second place with 11 hits. By winning the Silver, he also secured the second Olympic quota place to be awarded today. The 42-year old champion, a shooting legend with two Olympic medals and five world titles, will be heading to his seventh Games edition, in 2016.
India's Manavjit Singh Sandhu, 39, met Portugal's 30-year old Joao Azevedo in the Bronze medal match. After a neck and neck fight, the two shooters ended up tied with 12 hits out of 15 targets, and continued their duel in a shoot-off.
Sandhu – a 2006 Wolrd Champion – prevailed on Azevedo - competing here in his first ISSF World Cup final match – 12 to 11 hits in the shoot-off, climbing upon the third step of the podium to receive the Bronze medal. The Indian champ had already made it upon Acapulco's podium back in 2010, when he won an ISSF Gold medal.
Hungary's first-time finalist Norbert Hegyi, 41, followed them in fifth place, with a score of 12 hits in the semi-final, while USA's Brian Burrows, 27, closed the match in sixth with 11 hits.
The first ISSF World Cup Stage of the season is taking place in Acapulco, Mexico, from the 1st through the 9th of March. The competition will continue with the Double Trap Men event (finals scheduled on the 5th of March) and it will be closed by the Skeet Women and Men finals (finals on the 8th and 9th).
Watch the finals live on http://www.issf-sports.org/pages/livestream.ashx