Italy's Spada claims women's Skeet Gold at the ISSF World Cup in Gabala (AZE)

Italy's Katiuscia Spada (33) won the first Gold medal of this ISSF World Cup in Gabala (AZE), climbing atop of the women's Skeet podium, today.

 

The 2003 ISSF World Championship silver medallist qualified with 73 hits, and then ruled the semi-final with a perfect score of 16 hits, making it into the Gold medal match where she met USA's Morgan Craft, 22, the Bronze medallist of this year's ISSF World Cup in Larnaca (CYP).

 

16 targets where not enough to decide the medal match, as the two shooters ended up tied with 15 hits each. In the following shoot-off, it was Spada who clinched the brightest medal, beating her opponents 4 to 3 hits. Craft secured Silver, her best ISSF result ever.

 

The Italian shooter came back on an ISSF podium four months after winning Bronze at last March's ISSF World Cup Stage in Al Ain (UAE), at the end of a long season leading to Rio de Janeiro.

 

“It has been a great match, this is the result of a long preparation period, and of an intense season,” Spada said right after the medal ceremony. “We have been working hard and this medal pays all off.”

 

“Ever since I came here in Gabala I had good feelings. The infrastructure is great, the targets are perfect, the event is well organized. And eventually these good feelings lifted me atop of the podium.”

 

“Scores have been extremely high here in Gabala,” Spada continued. “The game is getting really competitive. I zeroed in during the semi-final and I scored all the targets, and then I missed one clay during the medal match, but luckily I regained concentration in the shoot-off and I made it.”

 

Today's Bronze medal went to Great Britain's Amber Hill, 17, who finished in the spotlights once again after winning Gold at the first European Games edition, here in Azerbaijan, earlier this year.

The young athlete qualified for the final phases of the competition with 73 hits, and then cleared the semi-final with 13 hits, advancing to the Bronze medal match where she met and beat Poland's 24-year old Aleksandra Jarmolinska 16 to 15 hits.

 

Jarmolinska had qualified for today's final in the lead, equalling the current world record with a perfect score of 75 hits out of 75 targets, and claimed a Rio 2016 Olympic quota place for her country. The 24-year old Polish athlete then hit 14 targets in the semi-final, and eventually ended up in fourth place with 15 hits in the medal match, behind Hill.

 

The 2004 and 2012 Olympic Silver medallist Wei Ning of the People's Republic of China, 33, took today's fifth place with 12 hits in the semi-final, after qualifying with 73 targets. She was followed by Caitlin Connor of USA, a 24-year old skeet shooter ranked fourth in the world, who survived a qualification shoot-off beating Chile's Crovetto Chadid with 71+2 hits to access the semi-final, ending then up in sixth place with 12 hits.

 

Chile's Francisca Crovetto Chadid, 25, secured the second Rio 2016 Olympic quota place up for grabs, as she placed in seventh with 72+1 hits.

 

The ISSF World Cup in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events in Gabala (AZE) will continue tomorrow with the Men's Skeet final, scheduled to take place at 17.15 (GMT+5). After the first 50 qualification targets, six athletes are leading the pack with a perfect score of 50 hits: Georgios Achilleos (CYP), Saif Bin Futtais (UAE), Saud Habib (KUW), Azmy Mehelba (EGY), Emmanule Petit (FRA) and Gabriele Rossetti (ITA). Tomorrow's final will be broadcasted live on www.issf-sports.org