The London 2012 Olympic Champion claimed his first World Cup Final Gold medal, beating two-time Olympic Silver medallist Giovanni Pellielo. In the Bronze medal match, after a never-ending shoot-off, Russian Federation’s Alexey Alipov prevailed over Massimo Fabbrizi of Italy.
The reigning Olympic Gold medallist in the Trap Men event, Croatia’s Giovanni Cernogoraz, pocketed the 1st place at the ISSF World Cup Final in Nicosia (CYP). His first in this competition, where his previous best result was a 6th place in Maribor (SLO) in 2012.
The 32-year old from Novigrad faced 45-year old Italian shooter Giovanni Pellielo in the Gold medal match, after they both concluded the semifinal round with the best score: 14 hits. In the medal match, they both missed one targets in their first two series, but as Pellielo missed again in his third one, Cernogoraz shuttered all of his last nine clays, topping the two-time Olympic Silver medallist and claiming what for him is the first Gold of the 2015 ISSF season.
“The six semifinalists were all very good shooters. So the level of the competition has been very high since the very first moment. I gave everything I had and it ended well.” Said Cernogoraz at the end of the match.
Then, he talked about his program in the following months. “This was my last competition for this year, I’m going to take a month off now and in December and January I will start with an intensive athletic training. In the end of January, then, I will go back to shooting again.” He concluded.
After placing 2nd at the 2015 ISSF World Championship in Lonato (ITA), Pellielo just finished one hit shy of the 1st place also here at the Nicosia Olympic Shooting Center. Anyway, he was pretty satisfied with his performance. “If this is the defeat, I’m ok with that. We are the best Trap shooters in the world, and it’s nice to find myself always battling with these guys. In this way a 2nd place is not a missed opportunity, but a great result, because you achieved it against the best shooters.” He declared after the podium ceremony.
In the other medal match, more than two finals was required to determine the Bronze medallist, as Alexey Alipov and Massimo Fabbrizi concluded the regular round with 15 hits out of 15 targets. In the following shoot-off, Fabbrizi missed first, but only on his 23rd clay. But even if only the Russian shooter climbed on the podium, they both won an enthusiastic applause from the crowd for the stunning performance.
Eliminated after the 15 semifinals targets, Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Erik Varga placed respectively 5th and 6th with 12 hits each.
The ISSF World Cup Final took place from October 15th to October 21st at the Nicosia Olympic Shooting Center in Latsia (CYP), and it has been the final competition of the 2015 ISSF season.