XXXI Olympic Games · Rio de Janeiro, BRA

The 20-year old shooter won Greece’s first Rio 2016 Gold just two days after claiming the air pistol bronze medal. Monika Karsch of Germany finished in second, Switzerland’s Heidi Diethelm Gerber in third.

Greece’s Anna Korakaki, 20, claimed Gold at today’s 25m Pistol Women Final at the Olympic Shooting Centre in Deodoro, pocketing her second Olympic medal in three days, after the air pistol bronze she secured on the 7^th of August. And as it stands now, she contributed to the 100% of Greece’s Rio 2016 medal tally.

“I can’t believe that I made it, this is great! I made several mistakes in the final, but luckily I was able to come back and climb up,” said the young athlete, who beat Germany’s Monika Karsch (33) in the Gold medal match by 8 to 6 points.

Korakaki finished atop of the semi-final scoreboard with 19 hits. During the medal match, she won the first six points, but then fired a series of bad shots, leaving to Karsh the next 6.

The 7^th series was the turning point of the match: Korakaki zeroed in and bested Karsh, gaining the last two points to win the brightest medal with a final score of 8 to 6.

“Winning a Bronze two days ago helped me to cope with the pressure today. The air pistol match has been really stressful, today I came here to enjoy the day, and I was more relaxed,” commented the winner.

“My father got me into the sport. He is my coach as well as a competitive shooter. I am glad I won today as this pays off all the passion he put into the sport.”

“In 2011, we were at a the European Championship in Belgrade. We were competing together, in two different events at the same time. I made it to the medals, and my father rushed his shooting session to come and see me. He lost a quota place for London 2012, that day. He lost a spot in the Games by 0.1 points, just to come and see me winning a junior medal. I will never forget that.”

Karsh said: “I was concentrated, I did not think about Anna’s score, I did not listen to the crowd, and I made it to the medals. This is a fantastic day!”

Switzerland’s Heidi Diethelm Gerber (47) pocketed today’s Bronze medal, beating the world rank’s leader Zhang Jingjing of the People’s Republic of China (27) by 8 to 4 points, after clearing the semifinal with 17 hits.

Diethelm Gerber had placed in 29^th at the 2012 Olympic Games. “Four years ago I was not so experienced,” she commented “I only had won a European championship title at that time. In the last four years I’ve competed and made the finals in several ISSF World Cups, and I gained confidence. I am a different athlete now.”

The 1988 Olympic Champion Nino Salukvadze of Gerogia (47) made it to the semifinal, finishing in sixth place with 14 hits.

The Shooting sport events at the Olympic Shooting Centre of Deodoro will continue tomorrow. Day-4 will see the best shooters of the world competing in the men’s Double Trap and 50m Pistol events.