ISSF World Cup Shotgun · Al Ain, UAE

The 2008 Olympic Bronze medallist Anthony Terras of France won today's Skeet Men Final at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Al Ain. Denmark's Hansen and Cyprus' Chasikos followed in second and third place, gaining a Rio 2016 Olympic berth each.

The 2015 ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Al Ain (UAE) was closed by today's Skeet Men Finals.

France's 29-year old Anthony Terras turned out to be the protagonist of the competition. After winning a qualification's five-way shoot-off with a score of 122+10 targets, he cleared the semi-final with a perfect score of 16 targets. Then, in the Gold medal match, he shuttered 15 targets out of 16, beating Denmark's 2013 World Champion Jasper Hansen, who collected the Silver with a score of 124 targets in the qualification, 16 targets in the semi-final and 13 hits in the medal match.

Terras did not expect to win, as he just came back to the sport after being forced to stop training for four weeks.

“I still can't realized how I made it to the podium. I recently had an operation at my wisdom tooth, I stopped training for one month and I am only shooting since ten days.” The French athlete said. “I did not expect it... I shot less than 2000 clays since last year, to prepare for this competition.”

Terras arrived here in Al Ain with a Rio 2016 Quota Place in his pocket, having won that at the 2014 ISSF World Championship in Granada, where he placed second. A good psychological advantage on his opponents, he said.

“Having already won an Olympic Quota helps me to be more focused. The most difficult thing of this sport is keeping your mind clear. It's though for the guys who haven't secured a Quota yet. That's a lot of pressure, and can lead to mistakes.”

“Still it's though.” Terras added. “I won a Quota Place for France, but I am not guaranteed a spot in the Olympic team. I need good performances throughout the season, before I can book a ticket to Rio.”

“My next goal is the European Games. I won't take part in the next ISSF World Cup stage, to give an opportunity to my teammates to pocket the second Quota. At the same time, I will prepare for Baku.”

The two Rio 2016 Olympic Quota places to be assigned today went to the Silver medallist, Denmark's 34-year old Jasper Hansen, and to Cyprus' Andreas Chasikos, who claimed the Bronze beating the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Champion Vincent Hancock of USA.

Chasikos, 30, ranked 43^rd in the world, topped the results of Hancock (15 to 14 targets in the Bronze medal match) and of his two teammates Georgios Achilleos (fifth with 14 hits in the semi-final) and Antonakis Andreou (sixth with 12 this in the semi-final).

The match concluded the second leg of this year's ISSF World Cup Series, which was conducted at the Al Ain's Equestrian, Shooting and Golf Club in Al Ain (UAE), from the 20^th through the 28^th of March.

The next ISSF Wolrd Cup stage will take place in Changwon, South Korea, where athletes from all over the world will compete in the 10 Rifle and Pistol shooting events from the 8^th through the 16^th of April. Follow the next events live on the ISSF Website at www.issf-sports.org