Anna Korakaki rules the Air Pistol final, wins her second medal in Fort Benning

A couple of days after winning the bronze medal in the 25m Pistol Women event, Anna Korakaki stepped once again on the ISSF World Cup podium in Fort Benning (USA), this time claiming the brightest medal in the women’s 10m Air Pistol final.

 

The 22-year-old shooter — who won bronze in this event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games — opened the event by signing a new Qualification World Record with 578 points, then struggling a little bit in the opening series of the match. When it counted the most, however, she started shooting with great consistency, taking the lead after the fourth series and maintaining the top position until the very end of the match, distancing herself from Serbia’s Zorana Arunovic and eventually finishing with 243.7 points.

 

The 33-year-old shooter from Belgrade couldn’t keep up to Korakaki’s pace and finished 3.6 points behind her, securing the silver medal with 240.1 points. Moreover, just like her Greek opponent, Arunovic won her second medal in Fort Benning by Arunovic, as she claimed bronze in the women’s 25m Pistol event two days ago.

 

Appearing in a final match for the third time, Thailand’s Pim-On Klaisuban finally grabbed the first international medal of her career in Fort Benning, finishing 3rd with 219.1 points. In her previous final participations, the 25-year-old athlete had placed 5th in Changwon (KOR) in 2015 and 4th in Bangkok (THA) in 2016.

 

Right at the feet of the podium, People’s Republic of China’s Ji Xiaojing — silver medalist in this event at last month’s World Cup in Changwon — scored 199.0 points and left the match after 20 shots, placing 4th. One position lower, Portugal’s Joana Castelo (33) took part in an Air Pistol final match for the first time since 2010, concluding the match in 5th position with 176.2 points.

 

Castelo was followed by eight-time Olympian Nino Salukvadze, who finished 6th with 155.2 points, and by a second Serbian finalist — Bobana Momcilovic Velickovic, World Cup gold medalist in this event in Munich (GER) in 2016). The 28-year-old shooter took 7th place with 135.3 points.

 

Participating in her sixth final match, 22-year-old Yu Ai Wen of Chinese Taipei closed the final in 8th position with 116.0 points.

 

The ISSF World Cup Stage 3 in Fort Benning will conclude tomorrow with the two last final matches: the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team, taking place at 10:45 am (UTC-4:00), and the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team, scheduled at 1:45 pm.

 

The matches will be streamed live on the ISSF website, on the Federation’s Livestream channel and on its official Facebook page.

 

Live results, 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.