Iran's Ahmadi and Khedmati won gold and bronze medals today, at the women's 10m air rifle of the Gabala World Cup. This also gave Iran two Olympic quota places.
Iran won one gold, one bronze, and two Olympic quotas on the second competition day of the ISSF World Cup in Gabala, Azerbaijan.
Elaheh Ahmadi, 33, and Najmeh Khedmati, 19, respectively came in first and in third at the women's 10m air rifle event today. In addition to representing Iran on the podium, they brought their country two Olympic quota places for Rio 2016.
Ahmadi won the gold with 207.8 points. She beat China's Zhang Binbin, the silver medalist, by just 0.4.
Khedmati, the bronze medalist, scored a 185.5.
The two Iranians on the podium gained an Olympic quota each for their country.
Russia's Anna Zhukova took the third ticket to Rio 2016 for this event.
Ahmadi had a great start in the final--she hit the highest score of the first round, a 31.6, to gain joint first place with Zhukova.
As her scores got worse, Ahmadi slipped to fourth place. Then she began her race to the lead, which Zhang was occupying.
When only three athletes were still in the final, Ahmadi was 0.9 points behind Zhang. Khedmati was in third.
After Khedmati left the final and took the bronze, Ahmadi hit a 10.6, overtook Zhang, and was once again in the lead.
It was still close: just 0.3 points of advantage on Zhang before the final shot. But Ahmadi didn't waste her lead. Instead, she increased it to 0.4, and won the gold--the first of her career.
Zhukova, the third quota-winner, came in fourth (164.9). China's Yi Siling, an Olympic Gold at London 2012, was fifth (144.6).
Korea's Kim Hye In (123.1), Spain's Paula Grande (102.5), and Iran's Jambozorg Mahlagha (78.8) completed the final's standings.
"I'm really happy," says Ahmadi. "It's a very good thing for me, in my shooting life."
Three years ago, Ahmadi came in 6th at the London Olympics. As she won a quota for Rio, she also won a chance to do better and win a medal.
"Even though we have a hard situation to train in Iran," Ahmadi says, "I'll try all my best in the Olympic Games."
"We'll have another competion [in Iran] and try to have another quota place there, and also try to have a medal at the Olympics."
According to Ahmadi, who is enthusiastic about her gold, the future looks bright for the Iranian Shooting Team.
"This is happiness," Ahmadi says. "Iranians have talent to be good shooters."
"We have lots of young shooters that are very good, and we hope that in the future they will continue this success."