Bulgaria's Antoaneta Boneva (29) won today's 10m Air Pistol Women final at the 2015 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Fort Benning (USA).
The 29-year old shooter finished atop of the podium after a neck and neck duel against Mongolia's Otryad Gundegmaa (36), who eventually closed the match in second place 2.1 points behind.
The two athletes had already met in the 25m Pistol Women final, three days ago, on the 13th of May, when Otryad finished on the lead leaving Boneva in second.
Table turned today, as the Bulgarian athlete shot a consistent final collecting 199.4 points, enough to beat her Mongolian opponent who lost her chances on the last two shots, as she scored two frustrating 8.9 and 9.3, closing the match with 197.3 points.
“This world cup in Fort Benning really ended up in the best way for me.” Boneva said. “I have been hoping for a Quota Place since the 2014 Wolrd Championship. I missed it there, and then again at the last world cup, by one point. Finally, I made it here in USA.”
“Fort Benning is my golden place. Last year I won here my first world cup gold medal, and now this... I definitely like this place!” She added.
“The season is still long. I am heading to the next world cup stage in Munich in one week, and then I will focus on the first European Games, that's in my sights.” Boneva concluded.
Today's Bronze medal went to the 19-year old finalist Anna Korakaki of Greece, third with 178.9 points, who also secured a Rio 2016 Olympic Quota place for her country.
Korakaki had finished in the spotlights by winning the junior title at the European Championship in Moscow and a junior bronze at the ISSF World Championship in Granada, last season. Competing among seniors this year, the Greek athlete had missed a pass for Rio by only 0.1 points at the previous world cup stage in Changwon, Korea, as she finished in fourth with 156.9 points.
The 2014 ISSF World Cup title holder, Alejandra Zavala of Mexico (30), secured the second Rio 2016 quota place by finishing in fourth with 156.7 points, while the third quota up for grabs at today's final went to Taipei's Yu Ai Wen (19), fifth with 136.4 points.
The 2004 Olympic Champion Olena Kostevych of Ukraine (30) – who already holds an Olympic quota – finished in sixth place with a final score of 117.2 points, after firing 7 out of 12 shots in the 9th ring. She was followed by Russia's first-time finalist Margarita Semenova (24) – seventh with 96.4 points – and by the 2012 World Cup Final silver medallist Tien Chia Chen of the Chinese Taipei (31) – eighth with 75.8 points.
The 2015 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Fort Benning will continue this afternoon with one more medal match: the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men final will be broadcasted live at 16:30 (GMT-4) on www.issf-sports.org