Australian Shooting Team members James Willett and Penny Smith shot their way to gold and silver respectively last night in the Trap shooting competition at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Newly ranked world number 1 James Willett secured his seventh gold medal in Men’s Trap, while Penny Smith, current world number 11, secured the silver medal in the Women’s Trap event.
Willett, who is now ranked number one in the world for Men’s Trap, shot 121 out of 125 targets during qualification, qualifying fifth out of six who made the final.
He dropped three shots in his first 20 in the final, trailing into the middle of the competition, but he finished in excellent fashion through the second half, dropping just one shot as his opposition fell back.
He finished with a score 46 out of 50, beating silver medallist Flip Maranov (Slovakia) and bronze medal winner Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas (Guatemala).
Smith qualified first for her final and shot well, leading in the early stages.
After 40 shots, she and Lebanon’s Ray Bassil were tied, having relegated Italy’s Erica Sessa to third on 34.
Under pressure, Bassil held it together to claim the gold with final scores of 40 from Smith and 44 from Bassil.
After the first eight competitions of the World Cup, the two medals put Australia in third place overall, behind Korea with three and China with 10.
There are still 13 more events to be decided. More details are available on the ISSF website, including schedules for live-streaming of finals.
0 Comments