Ukraine reel in IPC Shooting World Cup medals

The R1 10m Air Rifle SH1 also saw a Ukrainian go one and two, but this final was a much closer affair as Lurii Stoiev scored 203 over Andrii Doroshenko’s 202.3 to win the gold.

There were 120 athletes who made the journey back to the birthplace of Paralympic sport to compete in the latest installment of the IPC Shooting World Cup this week (2-4 July) in Stoke Mandeville, Great Britain, nearly 65 years after the first Stoke Mandeville Games were held at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury.

A 29-strong British team were looking to convert home soil advantage into medals and gave a good account of themselves, winning one gold, two silvers and a bronze.

However a fired up Ukrainian team stole the home team’s thunder, dominating the medal tables with a total of four golds, two silvers and two bronze.

Olga Mustafaieva started the Ukrainian gold rush with a convincing win in the final of the P2 10m Air Pistol SH1 competition, putting teammate Anastasia Skok, the P2 finals world-record holder, into second place.

The R1 10m Air Rifle SH1 also saw a Ukrainian go one and two, but this final was a much closer affair as Lurii Stoiev scored 203 over Andrii Doroshenko’s 202.3 to win the gold.

Great Britain’s Owen Burke, who won bronze at the last World Cup even in Turkey, finished outside the medals in fourth place.

Slovakia’s Veronika Vadovicova made her mark on British soil when she scored a 207.2 in the R2 10m Air Rifle standing SH1 category to win gold. Great Britain’s Di Coates didn’t give the Slovak an easy ride and missed out on the top spot by 0.1 of a mark. Karen Butler finished off the standings with a British bronze.

Great Britain’s Matt Skelhon was in a crowd-pleasing mood on the second day of competition. Building on the silver and gold medals he acquired in the last of his two World Cup outings, he achieved the R3 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1qualification world-record score and a gold medal to boot - beating Vadovicova 209.6 to her 209.4.

The 29-year-old now holds the world records scores in both the R3 qualification and final rounds.

Vasyl Kovalchuk added another gold to the Ukranian haul in the R5 10m air rifle prone SH2 category and New Zealand’s Mike Johnson, who was making his first appearance in this year’s shooting campaign, earned himself a bronze medal.

Johnson spurred on by his bronze medal, then won the R4 10m air rifle standing SH2 final, putting Richard Davies of Great Britain into second place. Kovalchuk rounded out the R4 medal standings with a bronze.

Finishing off the Ukranian golden touch was Oleskii Iskakov who was up against Hungary’s Gyula Gutisatti in the P1 10m air pistol SH1 category. After both shooting a score of 191.7 in the final a shoot off ensued for first place – Oleskii proved to have the edge in the end.

The IPC Shooting World Cup series is a precursor to the highly anticipated 2013 IPC Shooting European Championships, which will take place from 20-25 October in Alicante, Spain.