The ISSF World Championship Shotgun in Moscow (RUS) couldn’t have ended in a better way.
The Russian flag was raised above anything else at the end of the 22nd and conclusive event, the Skeet Mixed Team, where Nikolay Teplyy (30) and Nadezda Konovalova (32) claimed the first World Championship title ever in this event.
To climb on the highest step of the podium, Teplyy and Konovalova had to face and beat United States’ Hayden Stewart (24) and Dania Jo Vizzi (22) in a final where each team had 32 targets to crush.
The perfect 16 out of 16 nailed by Teplyy turned out to be decisive, as non of the other shooters matched his performance. The Russian team, then, finished with 30 hits against the 27 scored by Stewart and Vizzi.
“It’s a beautiful victory for us,” said Teplyy at the end of the award ceremony. “To close the competition with a Gold medal, here in our country, is unbelievable. We felt all the support from the crowd, it was unreal! it’s the best achievement of my life.”
It’s a fantastic feeling,” added Konovalova. “We prepared a lot for this match, and we want to thank the Federation, the coaches, our families and all the fans for the great support.”
In the previous Bronze medal match, Tammaro Cassandro (24) and Katiuscia Spada (35) of Italy beat People’s Republic of China’s Wei Meng (28) and Zhang Fan (28), with the final score of 28 hits to 26.
Both the Russian and the American team qualified for the Gold medal match by a shoot-off against Italy and China, respectively.
At the semifinal stage, Christian Elliott (19) and Kimberly Rhode (38), also of the United States of America, left the contest with 20 hits, finishing in 5th position, while Slovakia’s Danka Bartekova (32) and Stefan Zemko (40) was eliminated with 19 hits, taking 6th place.
The 2017 ISSF Season will conclude next month in New Delhi (IND), where the 2017 ISSF World Cup Final will take place from the 23rd to the 30th of October.
Live results of the competitions, news and updates will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.