Japanese athlete Naoko Ishihara earned the Skeet Women Gold medal at the Asia Olympic Qualifying Competition for Shooting in New Delhi (IND), where she also grabbed the one and only quota place available.
Ishihara marked the best semifinal score with 14 hits, entering directly in the Gold medal match, and waiting for her opponent to be determined by a shoot-off between Thailand’s Nutchaya Sutarporn and South Korea Kim Minji.
There, Sutarporn bested the Korean athlete after the very first station, where she shuttered 4 targets against Kim’s 3. In the Gold medal match, however, Ishihara took an early lead, taking advantage of Sutarporn many mistakes and sealing the Gold and the Olympic slot with the final score of 13 hits to 9.
Kim Minji took part in the final for 3rd place with India’s Saniya Sheikh, who survived a previous three-way tie breaker to determine the second participant to the Bronze medal match. There, the Korean shooter prevailed with a final score of 14 hits to 11.
The two athletes that lost the shoot-off to enter the Bronze medal match, Republic of Korea’s Kwak Yu Hyun and India’s Arti Singh Rao, finished respectively in 5th and 6th position, with 10+5 semifinal hits for Kwak and 10+1 for Rao.
Medal standings after 13 out of 15 events
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JPN |
5 | 1 | 6 | |
| 2 | KOR |
2 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| 3 | IND |
1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 4 | IRI |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | ISP |
1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | MAS |
1 | 1 | ||
| 6 | SIN |
1 | 1 | ||
| 6 | UAE |
1 | 1 | ||
| 9 | THA |
2 | 2 | ||
| 9 | TPE |
2 | 2 | ||
| 11 | PRK |
1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 12 | CHN |
1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 13 | KAZ |
1 | 1 | ||
| 13 | KSA |
1 | 1 | ||
| 13 | 13 | 13 | 39 |
The Asia Olympic Qualifying Competition for Shooting will continue tomorrow, the last day of competitions, with the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men final scheduled at 2:00 (UTC+5:30) followed by the Skeet Men final at 3:45 PM.
Live updates will be available online on the ISSF website and on the ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Sina Weibo.