Double gold for UAE at shooting World Cup

Abdulla Sultan Alaryani secured his second gold medal in as many days at his home IPC Shooting World Cup in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Monday (25 January), as teammate Abdulla Alahbabi also claimed victory.

Alaryani barely faltered on his way to first place in R7 (men’s 50m rifle three positions SH1), adding to his podium-topping performance in R1 (men’s 10m air rifle standing SH1) from the previous day.

He took an early lead during the kneeling round, building his lead throughout the prone and standing to finish with a 455.7 score.

The Ukrainian duo of Iurii Stoiev (454.0) and Andrii Doroshenko (432.1) finished in second and third respectively.

In R9 (mixed 50m rifle prone SH2), the UAE’s Alahbabi (610.1) claimed his country’s second gold of the day.

Austria’s Johann Windhofer (609.1) outscored Alahbabi twice but it was not enough overall, and he finished with silver.

Thailand’s Chatchai Senachan (607.5) was third.

The double win for the UAE see them at the top of the medals table with four golds with two days left of competition. Russia are second with two golds, two silver and one bronze, and Australia are third with one of each colour.

Slovakian world and European title holder Veronika Vadovicova (206.7) returned to the top step of the podium after disappointment on Sunday (24 January).

The 32-year-old led the scoring throughout R2 (women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1), out-shooting second-place Australian Natalie Smith (203.4) whom she lost to the previous day.

Russian Svetlana Dementyeva (179.6) completed the medallists with bronze.

In P2 (women’s 10m air pistol SH1), Hungarian World Championships silver medallist Krisztina David led the field after making a comeback against Azerbaijani European champion Yelena Taranova.

David (191.6) outscored early leader Taranova (188.9) in the fourth round and never looked back, leaving her with silver.

Greece’s Eleni Zampoura (162.9) was third.

Russian European champion Sergey Malyshev (353) claimed victory in P5 (mixed 10m air pistol standard SH1). Great Britain’s Roy Carter (352) was second, followed by Sweden’s Joackim Norberg (346) who enjoyed his third podium in as many days.

Full results, including live results from each day, are available at www.paralympic.org/shooting/live-results.

Competition continues in Al Ain on Tuesday (26 January) with R4 (mixed 10 air rifle standing SH2).