The 2016 ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Nicosia (CYP) has been opened by today’s Double Trap Men Final.
The first gold medal of the competition went to Italy’s 25-year old Alessandro Chianese, who climbed atop of the Double Trap podium beating the 2014 ISSF World Cup title winner Jeffrey Holguin of USA, 37, in the Gold medal match.
Chianese hit 28 targets out of 30, leaving Holguin in second with a score of 27 hits, after a thrilling duel. The Italian shooter had never won a world cup medal before, his best placement being a 4th place secured in Beijing in 2014.
The two athletes had to pass through a four-way shoot-off after the semifinal, as they tied with Germany’s Andreas Loew and Australia’s James Willett, with 28 hits.
In the following Bronze medal match, the winner of the 2015 Oceania Championship Willet, 20, beat 34-year old Loew with a score of 26 to 25 hits, pocketing his first world cup medal in career.
Guatemala’s Enrique Brol, 37, and Malta’s three-time Olympian William Chetcuti, 31, closed the semi-final in 5th and 6th places, respectively, with 27 hits each.
“The Rio 2016 Olympic team has already been picked, and I am not in. But nevertheless I tried to do my best here,” Chianese said after the match. “We are professionals and we love our sport, so we always aim at the best performance.”
“It has been a tough match. I struggled in my first qualification round, as I shot a 25. The wind was very tricky, and it took me a while to adapt. Then the rest of the competition run smoothly. Once I got into the final match, I told to myself ‘let’s have fun’, and I zeroed in.”
“I really wanted to end up with a good result. I had to pass through a shoot-off during today’s final, but I remembered what happened to me in Beijing in 2014 (when he was knocked out of the final in a tie-breaker, finishing 4th, ed.), so I kept calm and shoot each target trying to avoid the pressure.”
“I am spending half of the year in Australia, during the European winter, so I arrived here in Cyprus well prepared, even if it’s just the beginning of the season,” explained Chianese, who is married to the Australian shooter Stephanie Tigani. “After today’s victory, I will keep on working hard, and I will wait for another call of my coach Mirco Cenci. I am ready!”
373 athletes from 61 countries are competing in the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Nicosia, Cyprus (the first Shotgun world cup stage of the season) from the 18th through the 24th of March.
The event will continue tomorrow with the Skeet Men Final. After the first qualifications day, the competition sees another Italian shooter, Luigi Lodde atop of the table, with a score 75 targets out of 75. The final will take place tomorrow (March 20) at 3.30 PM (UTC+2), and will be broadcasted live on www.issf-sports.org