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❆ GOLD DIAMOND, Michael (AUS)
DIAMOND DEFEATS THE ITALIANS
Twice Olympic Champion Michael Diamond
of Australia displayed his skills once again,
proving to be in great shape by winning the
Trap Men’s Final inBeijing. The Australian
champion was the only shooter who was not
affected by the weather conditions, obtaining
Gold with his usual ease and disregarding
any discussion on the flash targets used
in Beijing. “Somebody complained about the
targets. I don’t want to comment about that.
If I miss, most of the times it’s because of
me. Today, I would say that targets did not
affect my round at all.” Diamond said right
after winning Gold with a total score of 134
hits (117+17). The Australian shooter made it
into the final round with a second qualification
score of 117 targets behind the leader of
the qualification, Italy’s Pellielo, the defender
of the title. As Pellielo started to miss, Diamond
saw an opportunity and climbed all the
way to the lead to win with a final score of 17
hits. “Yesterday it was snowing, today it has
been freezing – Diamond commented about
the weather conditions, after the award ceremony
– the sun is shining today, and the reflection
of the sunlight on the snow compromised
the visibility. It’s all glittery and shiny.
When the target flies over the snow into the
dark line of the trees on the background, it’s
almost gone. It has been difficult. But obviously
not impossible.”
Pellielo, the 2008 Olympics Silver medalist
and winner of last year’s ISSF World Cup Final
in Minsk, only hit 12 targets out of 25 during
the final round. The Italian shooter missed
nine clays in a row during the central part of
the match, and was clearly disappointed as
he ended up in third place with a total score
of 130 hits (118+12). The Italian athlete, the
shotgun shooter who has won the highest
number of World Cup Finals (seven titles),
could not believe what he saw on the scoreboard:
“not even when I was twelve I missed
nine targets in a row. There is an problem
with the targets, and with the weather, of
course. Today’s targets were really hard to
break, – he commented after the final – and
the weather conditions were extreme.”
Italy’s Massimo Fabbrizi, 32 years old, defeated
his team-mate Pellielo, obtaining Silver
with 133 hits (117+16), and winning his first
ISSF World Cup Final medal. The 2005 World
Champion also commented on the targets
used for the final: “I am happy I made it to the
podium, but I also agree with Giovanni that
these flash targets were hard to break.”
India’s 2006 World Champion, Manavjit
Singh Sandhu, suffered the consequences of
his qualification score of 111 targets during
the final round, and closed the match in fifth
place with a total of 129 hits, ending up one
clay away from the podium in spite of shooting
the best score in the final (18 hits).
❆ SILVER FABBRIZI, Massimo (ITA)
❆ BRONZE PELLIELO, Giovanni (ITA)
WCF BEIJING
TRAP MEN
❆ Awards Trap Men
The winner of this year’s ISSF World Cup Stages
in Cairo and San Marino, the USA’s Ryan
Hadden, placed fifth with 124 hits (109+15),
followed by this year’s World Champion Marian
Kovacocy of Slovakia, sixth with 123 hits
(110+13).
Marco Dalla Dea
ISSF NEWS 27