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ASIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
CHINA MONOPOLIZED THE FEMALE EVENTS
The Chinese team, which could not find a spot on the male podiums,
monopolized the female events, winning all of the Gold medals awarded
during the 2009 Asian Championship. Six out of the nine individual
medals of Trap, Skeet and Double Trap went to China, as well as both
the Skeet and the Trap Women Team Gold medals. GAO E of China, a
46-year old Trap shooter who won Bronze at the 2000 Olympics of Sydney,
won the TRAP WOMEN competition with a total score of 88 hits.
Following a safe qualification round, she hit 20 targets during the final
round, ending in first place with two targets of advantage over 21-year
old Lebanese shooter RAY BASSIL, Silver medallist with 86 targets. The
Trap Women Bronze medal went to the second Chinese finalist, BAI
YITING, 27-years old, who had never competed in an ISSF international
match before. Gao, Bai and their team-mate Zhu (who ended in fifth
place) won the team Gold medal with a combined score of 199 hits, leaving
Qatar in second place with 177 targets and India in third with 176.
SKEET WOMEN legend ZHANG SHAN, the athlete who won the
1992 Olympics of Barcelona competing against men in a mixed event,
returned to an international podium, winning the Skeet Female event
with a total score of 91 hits. Starting the final round in third place with 67
qualification targets, she climbed to the first place as a result of a solid
final of 24 hits. Her closest opponent, India’s ARTI SINGH RAO, winner
of the 2005 Asian Championship, won the Skeet Silver medal with a total
score of 90 hits, after missing five targets throughout the final match.
Once again, the Bronze medal went to a Chinese shooter, 23-year old
first-time participant GUO WEI, who was competing in an ISSF match for
the first time. The outstanding results of the three Chinese team-mates
(Zhang, Guo and Wang, who placed in fourth) sent China to the top of the
team podium with a total of 198 targets, 9 hits more than what the Silver
medallists of Kazakhstan managed to score. WU YUNXIA and ZHANG
YAFEI topped the results of their team-mates, winning the Double Trap
Women Gold and the Silver medals with 104 and 98 hits, respectively,
leaving Thailand’s JANEJIRA’S SRISONGKRAM in third place.
THE JUNIORS MADE THE DIFFERENCE
The Asian Championship offered junior shooters the chance to compete
against themselves in specialized events, and the medals won
by junior shooters made the difference in the overall medal standings
count. Kazakhstan, the host country, won its only individual
Gold medal at the SKEET MEN JUNIOR competition thanks to ILYA
ZABUDKIN, who finished in first with 134 hits after hitting 22 targets
in the final. Following him, the Double Trap Men Junior Silver medal
went to Qatar’s ALI AHMED AL-ISHAQ with 132 hits, while Bronze
was won by Kuwait’s FAWAZ ALAZEMI with 131 targets. Qatar and
Kuwait continued battling in the TRAP MEN JUNIOR event. Qatar’s
junior shooter MOHAMMED AL RUMAIHI won the Gold medal with
130 hits, and behind him the two Kuwaiti team-mates TALAL AL-
RASHIDI and OMAR ALDAIHANI obtained Silver and Bronze, respectively,
contributing to Kuwait’s third place in the overall medal
standings. India and China returned to the podium at the DOUBLE
TRAP MEN event. While India’s SANGRAM DAHIYA won Gold with
179 hits, China’s XUAN JALIN and SUN XUE ZHI battled right to the
last shot to earn the Silver and the Bronze medal with 157 and 156
targets each.
Marco Dalla Dea
32 ISSF NEWS