Shooters Target Rio 2016 in Qabala

The Qabala stage was extremely important first and foremost because it was the final stage of the regular season of the World Cup for Olympic shooting disciplines and the last chance for many athletes to fight for 34 qualification spots for the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Qualification for the World Cup Finals in Munich and Nicosia in September and October was also up for grabs.

The other notable factor was the number of participating countries and athletes. About 1,100 athletes from some 90 countries, as well as a large number of official guests and delegations descended on Qabala. To get here, athletes had to qualify through the preliminary stages held in Mexico, the UAE, South Korea, Cyprus, the USA and Germany.

The importance and prestige afforded by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) to this year’s World Cup meant that unsurprisingly many Olympic medallists and champions were among the shooters in Qabala. The international media also showed great interest in the final stages, which were broadcast live by ISSF TV, the official television channel of the International Shooting Sport Federation. Amongst others, British media outlets BBC Sport and Insidethegames.biz published broad articles on the event.

The opening ceremony took place on 7 August at the Heydar Aliyev Congress Centre. Speeches were given by representatives of the Qabala Sports Club, the Azerbaijani government, the ISSF, the Qabala local government and the Azerbaijani Shooting Federation, praising the high-level organisation of recent major events in Azerbaijan such as the first European Games and highlighting the significance of the World Cup for Azerbaijan.

Following the official opening declared by Mr Olegario Vazques Rana, the ceremony continued with a concert featuring Azerbaijani and foreign music performed by Azerbaijani singers, including performances by the Natig Rhythm Group led by renowned Azerbaijani artist Natig Shirinov, singer and Baku 2015 ambassador Tunzala Aghayeva, and young mugham performer Gullu Muradova.

China on target

The competition itself began on 8 August at the Gabala Shooting Club and the first champions were crowned as early as the first day, when three sets of medals were awarded. Men and women competed in the skeet and 10m air rifle events in which athletes from eight countries won medals, presented by Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports Ismayil Ismayilov and Secretary General of the ISSF Franz Schreiber.

The last day of the Qabala World Cup stage saw medals (the 15th and last set) distributed in just one shooting discipline - the men’s trap. European athletes dominated the last day, with experienced Russian athlete Aleksey Alipov winning gold and Croatian (Giovanni Cernogoraz) and Italian (Erminio Frasca) athletes taking silver and bronze respectively. The shooters who came first and second in the final stages qualified for Rio 2016.

Overall, 16 countries were among the medals at Qabala but China achieved the greatest success, leading the medals table with 12 in total, half of which were gold. The USA and Russia took second and third places respectively with five medals each; South Korea won four medals; Italy – three; Austria, Croatia, Iran, UK and Taiwan – two; Czech Republic, France, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Serbia and Japan - one. 18-year-old South Korean Cheongyong Kim became the only athlete to win two medals in the final stages of the World Cup (winning the 10m rifle and coming 3rd in the 50m pistol). In doing so he made history.

The Azerbaijani team

The Azerbaijani national shooting team featured 27 shooters, several of whom were shooting on home territory at the Gabala Shooting Club - Elvin Ismayilov, Emin Jafarov, Pasha Ahadpur, Elchin Babayev and Nurlana Jafarova. Unfortunately our athletes didn’t manage to win a medal or to qualify for Rio 2016. Ruslan Lunyov achieved the best result, taking 7th in the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol. Of the Qabala-based shooters, Emin Jafarov faired best by taking 31st place in the men’s skeet.

Whilst the World Cup event in Qabala was the last chance for pistol and rifle shooters to qualify for Rio 2016, the shotgun shooters would have another chance at the Shotgun World Championships held from 9-18 September in the Italian town of Lonato.

In such a way, the latest high-profile shooting tournament held in Qabala took its place in the city’s sporting history, alongside the traditional Grand Prix tournament in memory of Heydar Aliyev. The value shown by international shooting federations towards competitions held in Qabala suggests the city is becoming a global centre of shooting, ready to host further prestigious sporting events in the future.

World Cup Results

Rifle

Men’s 50m Rifle Men
1^st Zicheng Hui (China)
2^nd Alexander Schmirl (Austria)
3^rd Qinan Zhu (China)

Men’s 50m Rifle Prone
1^st Kirill Grigoryan (Russian)
2^nd Matthew Emmons (USA)
3^rd Tomas Jerabek (Czech Republic)

Men’s 10m Air Rifle
1^st Yifei Cao (China)
2^nd Sang Do Kim (South Korea)
3^rd Petar Gorsa (Croatia)

Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions
1^st Dongqi Chen (China)
2^nd Siling Yi (China)
3^rd Anna Zhukova (Russia)

Women’s 10m Air Rifle
1^st Elalleh Ahmadi (Iran)
2^nd Binbin Zhang (China)
3^rd Najmeh Khedmati (Iran)

Pistol

Men’s 50m Pistol
1^st Jiajie Mai (China)
2^nd Daehun Park (South Korea)
3^rd Cheongyong Kim (South Korea)

Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol
1^st Haozhe Hu (China)
2^nd Jiajie Lao (China)
3^rd Boris Artaud (France)

Men’s 10m Air Pistol
1^st Cheongyong Kim (South Korea)
2^nd Vladimir Issachenko (Kazakhstan)
3^rd Juraj Tuzinski (Slovakia)

Women’s 25m Pistol
1^st Lijia Cao (China)
2^nd Vitalina Batsarashkina (Russia)
3^rd Jingjing Zhang (China)

Women’s 10m Air Pistol
1^st Zorana Arunovic (Serbia)
2^nd Yuemei Lin (China)
3^rd Chia Chen Tien (Chinese Taipei)

Shotgun

Men’s Trap
1^st Alexey Alipov (Russia)
2^nd Giovanni Cernogoraz (Croatia)
3^rd Erminio Frasca (Italy)

Men’s Double Trap
1^st Walton Eller (USA)
2^nd Steven Scott (Great Britain)
3^rd Vasily Mosin (Russia)

Men’s Skeet
1^st Vincent Hancock (USA)
2^nd Sebastian Kuntschik (Austria)
3^rd Gabriele Rossetti (Italy)

Women’s Trap
1^st Yukie Nakayama (Japan)
2^nd Yi Chun Lin (Taiwan)
3^rd Corey Cogdell (USA)

Women’s Skeet
1^st Katiuscia Spada (Italy)
2^nd Morgan Craft (USA)
3^rd Amber Hill (Great Britain)