By Armstrong Vas
Doha: A clinical finish helped Marco Innocenti of Italy to clinch the top spot at the Double Trap event of the Qatar Open Shotgun Championship.
Yesterday at the Losail Shooting Range, Olympics Games-bound Innocenti capitalised on early mistakes of his training partner Daniele Di Spingo to bag the $7,000 top prize.
Di Spingo, who is not among the nine shooters selected by Itlay for the Rio Games, finished second.
Russia’s Mosin Vasily took the bronze, while two other Italians Antonino Barillà and Alessandro Chianese finished among the top eight, to complete the domination.
Barillà, for whom Rio 2016 will mark the first Olympic participation, did not qualify among the top six shooters who made it to the semi-finals, finishing in the eight place and Chianese in sixth position.
For Innocenti, the Qatar title will serve as a big boost in the Games year in his quest to bag his first Olympic medal. “My friend (Di Spigno)is very strong (shooter), today he was not lucky , he missed three shots which is very rare, slowly slowly we are preparing for the Olympic Games and thanks to Qatar for hosting this tournament,” Innocenti said, while talking to reporters during the victory ceremony.
“This title is very good for me and for my games preparation and the start of the new season with a title is always a good thing,” said Innocenti, who is hoping to end his Games medal drought.
The 37-year-old had to be two Games in 2000 and 2004 but is yet to win a medal. In Sydney, he finished in the eight place and four years later in Athens he came in the 17th spot.
Di Spigno said the mistakes he committed in the first five shots in the final round of 30 shattered his title hopes. “Did a little mistake in the initial stages and never recovered,” Di Spigno said.
“With the 12 secs time there is not much time to understand what you are missing, so you need two or three doubles to get a hang of what the mistake is all about. After understanding my mistake, Innocenti did not give me the opportunity for me to comeback. He (innocenti) is a good shooter and he did not give any chance and as you know the final is only of 30 targets. I am happy for him, he is a good shooter and we always train together,” the 41-year-old said.
Yesterday on a windy day, the 2004 ISSF World Cup champion walked into the final with the second best qualification score of the day, 140 hits, and passed through the semi-final with a score of 28 targets, making it to the gold medal match.
There, he met the Di Spigno, who marked a score of 29 hits out of 30 targets in the semi-final after qualifying with a top score of 142 clays.
In the final round of the event, Di Spigno missed a couple of targets in the initial stages but recovered from the early setbacks to maintain a consistent run in the round of 30. The two gold medal contenders shot neck and neck right to the end of the match, Innocenti closed the contest with a score of 28 targets to Di Spigno’s 27 .
Earlier, Vasily, bronze medal winner at the London Games defeated Ahmad Alafasi of Kuwait 26-24 to win the third place. Third place finisher Vasily said he always guns for the top prize.
“Not satisfied completely with the end result. My goal always in shooting is to win gold. Personally, I feel sorry for missing one extra target in the semi-final. But allah give us according to our efforts,” the 44-year-old said
The Russian aiming to better his London Games performance said he is getting use to the new gun.
“I am confident after the world championship win, I have changed my gun for my sponsor and I am trying this new gun. That‘s why there is some mental problem, not technical, otherwise everything was OK, I am satisfied with my Qatar performance. The new guns makes my work more pleasant,” Vasily said.
The Peninsula
