Trap Men – Diamond outdid the Italians

The Australian champion overtook the two Italian teammates Pellielo and Fabbrizi, winning Gold with one target of advantage on his opponents.

The two-time Olympic Champion Michael Diamond won today’s Trap Men competition at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup Final, securing the third title of his career with a total score of 134 hits (117+16). Diamond climbed the scoreboard and overtook the two Italian teammated Pellielo and Fabbrizi, finishing on the highest step of the podium with one target of advantage.

“Yesterday was snowing, today it is freezing – Diamond said after the award ceremony – Sun is shining today, and the reflection of the sunlight on the snow compromised the visibility. When the target flies over the snow into the dark line of the threes on the background, it’s almost gone. It has been difficult. Not impossible.”

The Australian shooter had made it into the final round with the second qualification score of 117 targets behind the qualification’s leader, Pellielo of Italy, the title defender. As Pellielo started missing, Diamond took the chance, climbing up in the lead to win with a final score of 17 hits “Somebody complained about the targets. I don’t want to comment about that. If I am missing, most of the times it’s up to me. Today, I would say that targets did not affect my round at all.”

Pellielo, Beijing’s Olympics Silver medallist, and winner of last year’s ISSF World Cup Final in Minsk, hit 12 targets out of 25 in the final, missing nine in a row, and landed in third place with a total score of 130 clays (118+12). The Italian athlete holds a record, being the shotgun shooter who won the highest number of World Cup Finals (seven titles). Today’s was his thirteenth medal in this competition. “Today’s targets were really hard. – he commented after the final - And the weather conditions were extreme.”

Italy’s Massimo Fabbrizi, 32, overtook his teammate Pellielo to claim Silver with 133 hits (117+16), his first ISSF World Cup Final medal. The 2005 World Champion also commented on the target used for the final: “I am happy I made it to the podium, but I also agree that these targets were hard to break.”

Following the medallists, the 2006 World Champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu of India paied his lower qualification score of 111 targets, and closed the round in fifth place with a total of 129 hits, finishing one clay down the podium in spite of shooting today’s best final with 18 clays.

The winner of this year’s ISSF World Cup Stages in Cairo and San Marino, 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