Thailand’s Anusorn Chaichamnan delighted his home crowd by earning the first the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Shooting World Cup win over his career on the final day of action in Bangkok.
The local shooter was only competing in his second international event and found himself facing illustrious competition in the R5 10 metre air rifle prone mixed SH2 discipline.
Ukraine’s European Championship silver medallist Vasyl Kovalchuk proved the home favourite’s closest rival after both reached the final elimination round by achieving a score of 191.7 points.
As both shooters were tied the final two shots proved all-important, with Chaichamnan holding his nerve best to finish the competition with a winning tally of 212.7 points.
Kovalchuk was forced to settle for the silver medal on 212.2 points and Slovenia’s Gorazd Francek Tirsek completed the podium with 189.5.
As Chaichamnan was celebrating his maiden triumph, Oleksii Denysiuk was sealing his third title of the week.
After triumphs in the P3 mixed 25m pistol SH1 and P1 men’s 10m air pistol SH1 events, the Ukrainian had set his sights on the P4 mixed 50m pistol SH1 crown.
Thailand’s Bordin Sornsriwichai threatened to end his rival’s winning streak, leading the competition after four rounds, only for Denysiuk to fight back and 1.3 points clear of his opponent to win with 184.3.
A third place finish for Juhee Lee, who scored 162.6, proved crucial in helping South Korea to earn the overall team title.
Their three-man team, which also included Aeekyung Moon and Youngkyun Seo, ended with a winning tally of 1,564 points.
Turkey and Poland completed the podium by ending on 1,548 and 1,534 respectively.
Germany’s Natascha Hiltrop claimed the gold medal in the final event of the World Cup, the R6 mixed 50m rifle prone SH1, achieving a score of 203.6 points.
Slovakia’s Veronika Vadovicova was just 0.6 points further back in second and Ukraine’s Andrii Doroshenko took the bronze on 182.1.
- By Michael Pavitt
- Republished with permission insidethegames.biz