Haley Dunn (Eddyville, Iowa) brought home the first medal of the 2008
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ISSF World Cup Final for the U.S. team September 29 when she captured the silver in women’s skeet. The Shotgun World Cup Final is taking place in Minsk, Belarus and runs through September 30.
Fifty-eight shooters from 18 countries qualified for the 2008 ISSF World Cup Final. Among the shooters competing are the 15 2008 Beijing Olympic Medalists, the title defenders from the 2007 World Cup Final in Belgrade and the best shooters from the 2008 ISSF World Cup circuit who qualified by points from four World Cup Stages held in Kerrville, Texas; Beijing, China; Suhl, Germany and Belgrade, Serbia.
Dunn, the 2008 World Cup USA gold medalist and World Cup Beijing bronze medalist, went into the women’s skeet final in second place behind Andri Eleftheriou of Cyrpus with a qualification score of 71 out of 75 targets, while Eleftheriou had 73 targets.
In the final, Dunn and Eleftheriou both hit 22 targets, which left Eleftheriou in first place taking home the gold, while Dunn claimed the silver with an overall score of 93 targets.
Italy’s Katiuscia Spada took the bronze with 92 targets and four-time Olympian and 2008 silver medalist Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.) finished in fourth place at 91 targets after a shoot-off with Nathalie Larsson of Sweden. Two-time Olympian and 2008 World Cup USA bronze medalist, Connie Smotek (Bryan, Texas), finished the women’s skeet event in eighth place with 66 targets.
The women’s trap final was September 30 with 1996 Olympian and U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) member Theresa DeWitt (Cincinnati, Ohio) taking fifth place, which was the highest finish for the U.S. trap women. DeWitt, the 2008 World Cup USA gold medalist, entered the final in sixth place with 66 out of 75 targets and shot 20 out of 25 targets in the final to finish with a total of 86 targets.
DeWitt’s USAMU teammate Joetta Dement (Renton, Wash.), finished in seventh place with 66 targets, while 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Corey Cogdell (Eagle River, Alaska) finished in 10th place, also with 66 targets. Dement and Cogdell were tied with DeWitt and two other shooters at 66 targets at the end of the qualification and DeWitt won the shoot-off to earn the sixth spot in the final.
Irina Laricheva of the Russian Federation took the gold in women’s trap with a total of 94 targets, while Liu Yingzi of China claimed the silver with 92 targets and Italy’s Giulia Iannotti took home the bronze with 90 targets.
The men’s double trap event was held on September 28 with 2008 Olympian and USAMU member Jeff Holguin (Yorba Linda, Calif.), along with last year’s World Cup Final Champion and 2008 Olympic gold medalist, Glenn Eller (Katy, Texas), also member of the USAMU, finishing in seventh and 10th places respectively.
Holguin ended the qualification with 136 out of 150 targets, while Eller had 135 targets, which did not qualify either for the final. Sweden’s Hakan Dahlby took the gold with 191 out of 200 targets. Hu Binyuan of China claimed the silver with 188 targets in a shoot-off with Vasily Mosin of the Russian Federation, who took home the bronze.
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The 2008 ISSF World Cup Final for shotgun came to a close September 30 in Minsk, Belarus with 2008 Olympic gold medalist Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Ga.) taking home the silver medal in the men’s skeet event.
Hancock went into the final tied for first place with Tore Brovold of Norway, who was the silver medalist in Beijing, after losing a shoot-off for the gold to Hancock.
In the final, Brovold shot a perfect 25 targets to Hancock’s 24 targets to claim the gold with a final of 148, giving Hancock the silver with 147. Jan Sychra of the Czech Republic earned the bronze with 144 targets after a shoot-off with Abdullah Alrashidi of Kuwait.
Frank Thompson (Alliance, Neb.) finished in 11th place with a qualification score of 115 targets. This was Thompson’s first World Cup Final appearance.
In men’s trap, 2008 Olympian Dominic Grazioli (San Antonio, Texas) missed a spot in the final by one target, finishing the qualification round in seventh place with 117 targets. Four-time Olympian Bret Erickson (Muenster, Texas) was unable to finish the match due to a shoulder injury.
Italy’s Giovanni Pellielo, the silver medalist from Beijing, shot a perfect 25 in the final and took home the gold in men’s trap with an overall score of 145 targets. Michael Diamond of Australia earned the silver with 144 targets and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Alexey Alipov of Russia captured the bronze with 142 targets.
