ISSF World Cup Final Shotgun · Rome, ITA

The 29-year old athlete hit 16 targets to beat 2000 Olympic Champion Milchev, at the ISSF World Cup Final in Rome, today. Rio 2016 Olympic Champion Rossetti closed in 6th.

The winner of this year’s world cup stage in Baku, Nikolay Teplyy of the Russian Federation (29), claimed the men’s Skeet World Cup title at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup Final in Rome, Italy, today.

Teplyy proved true a rule of shooting sport: if you don’t miss, you can’t be beaten. Indeed, he scored all targets in the gold medal match, beating Ukraine’s 2000 Olympic Champion Mikola Milchev (48) by 16 to 13 hits.

The Russian shooter had completed the semi-final with 15 hits out of 16 targets, making his way to the gold medal match through a four-way shoot-off with +12 hits.

Egypt’s Asmy Mehelba (25) met India’s Mairaj Ahmad Khan (40) in the bronze medal match, as they both scored 15+11 hits in the semi-final. Both athletes missed a clay on the first station, but then Mehelba zeroed in, hitting all clays right to the end of the match to win bronze with 15 hits, while Khan missed again on the last station, placing 4th with 14 clays.

Rio 2016 Olympic Champion and local hero Gabriele Rossetti of Italy, finished in 6th place with 12 hits in the semi-final, behind the 2008 and 2012 Olympic winner Vincent Hancock of USA, 5th with 14 hits.

“This has been a difficult competition,” said Teplyy, holding the ISSF Globe, his first ISSF trophy in career.

“When I arrived here, I was not really self-confident, as it’s the end of the season I am a bit tired. So I am extremely happy that I am eventually walking home with the gold medal,” he added.

Bronze medalist Mehelba said: “It’s really great to be on the podium today. It has been a long season, I prepared at my best for the Games, but I did not achieve what I wanted there.”

The Egyptian shooter, who was listed among the favorites ahead of the Games, placed in 11th in Rio de Janeiro.

“But to win here it’s really important: all the best Skeet shooters of the world take part in the world cup final, and to finish in the top-3 is not easy,” he continued.

“After Rio de Janeiro, I immediately started thinking about Tokyo 2020. This World Cup Final is the end of the 2016 season, but it’s also the starting point of the road to Tokyo. I am looking forward to it.”

The ISSF Shotgun World Cup Final in Rome, Italy, will continue tomorrow (October 14^th) with the Trap Women final at 3.00 PM (UTC+2). Watch the match live on www.issf-sports.org and on the Olympic channel.