There is only one way to best a World Championship silver medal: to win.
Italy’s Elia Sdruccioli bested the 2nd place he nailed at last year’s ISSF Shotgun World Championship in Moscow (RUS), finally becoming the Junior World Champion in the Skeet Men event.
To do so, the talented Italian 20-year-old had to wrestle his way to the highest step of the podium, avoiding elimination in 3rd place thanks to India’s Gurnihal Singh Garcha missing his very last target on station number 5 and finishing in 3rd position because of a lower qualification ranking.
With 10 targets left to shoot and the score tied at 46, Sdruccioli and his rival — United States’ 20-year-old Nic Moschetti — both missed one of their clays on station number 3. Sdruccioli, however, kept his focus on the big prize and closed his match with six consecutive hits, while Moschetti dramatically missed his 60th and final target.
Sdruccioli grabbed the ISSF World Championship gold medal with 56 crushed targets out of 60, adding it to the Junior World Cup gold he pocketed in Porpetto (ITA) in 2016. Moschetti, who was competing in front of his parents Mike and Rachelle, signed off with 55 and the silver medal around his neck.
The bronze medal went to 19-year-old Garcha, who closed his match with 46 hits out of 50.
The Indian shooter was followed by Turkey’s 20-year-old Onur Atak and Czech Republic’s 18-year-old Daniel Korcak, who respectively finished in 4th place with 32 hits out of 40, and in 5th with 25 out of 30. A second Italian finalist — Niccolò Sodi (20) — left the contest after 20 target, placing 6th with 17 hits.
The Czech Republic climbed on the highest step of the team podium with 356 total hits, followed by India and Italy, who respectively took silver with 355 and bronze with 354.
The 52nd ISSF World Championship in all events will continue tomorrow with four Target Sprint events kicking off at 1:45 pm (UTC+9:00).
Footage of the Olympic events will be distributed worldwide via EBU and broadcasted 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.