Vescovi wins Double Trap gold
DOHA, February 20, 2018-Italians stamped their class over the Double Trap category of the Qatar Open Shotgun Championship, as they dominated the event by making a clean sweep of all the three places.
Yesterday, promising youngster Andrea Vescovi led the Italian charge as he beat a star-studded field at the Losail Shooting Range to complete the Italian 1-2-3.
The 24-year-old Vescovi, proved that experience does not count but the form of the day matters when he overcame Daniele de Spigno, his practice partner and his 18 year his senior, by four shots (75-71) to win the gold, while their team-mate Aegnazio Tronca came third.
Vascovi was just a six-year-old when 42-year-old De Spigno, a four-time Olympic Games veteran, made his debut at the 2000 Games.
“It is very good victory for me. This was my first appearance in the event and I am very happy to win the gold beating a very strong field," Vescovi, the 2014 junior world champion, said.
Vascovi had stumbled to an indifferent start with a 54 out of 60 in the first two rounds.
However, he showed his class with 84 out of 90 in the next three rounds to put himself in the line for the gold.
Talking about the condition, the marksman from Città di Castello said: “It was a windy day, but it's an outdoor event and we are prepared to shoot in any conditions," said Vascovi who began practicing shooting in 2004 and took part in his first competition three years later.
“The wind was there in the final round, but it was a part of the game. I held my nerves to beat my countrymen and friends for my first title here," he said.
Di Spigno was satisfied with his silver medal as he said: I am very happy with my performance as it came against a very competitive field in the very first event of the season. I am also happy with Andrea's victory. He is a very good shooter and a deserving winner today. He is my team-mate and we use to practice together at least twice a week, so it was a friendly competition." The veteran marksman is a regular at the Doha event and he is very impressed with the facilities at the range.
“We start our season here every year and I must say the facilities are world class here," the 2016 runner-up said.
45-year-old Russian Vasily Mosin, 2012 London Olympic Games bronze medal winner and India Ankur Mittal were the other two shooters who qualified for the final but got trapped in the Italian storm.
Asian Shotgun Champion Mittal, who also won silver medal at 2017 ISSF World Shotgun Championship in Moscow, was first to be eliminated from the final as he finished sixth with 24 hits out of 30.
The 26-year-old Indian, who had been in irresistible form last year winning the silver in the World Cup in Delhi and following it up with the gold in the World Cup in Acapulco, failed to match his Italians rivals in the first event of the season.
Ankur is the member of the Indian shooting team which will take part in the Commonwealth Games to be staged in Gold Coast, Australia, in April.
The 2015 World Champion Mosin was next to go as he managed to hit only 30 shots and left the field for the all-Italian affair.
The 2016 Rio Games silver medalist and 2017 Qatar champion Marco Innocenti came fourth with a score of 41.
Qatar's Hamad al-Marri, who won the silver medal last year came 16th and Abdulbaset Mohsin came 13th. The other Qatar shooters Masoud Ali Al Adbaand and Rashid Ali Al Athbi finished 17th and 19th, respectively.
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