ZAGREB, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) — Egypt’s Azmy Mehelba made all his shots in the medal match to beat four-time world champion Vincent Hancock for the men’s skeet gold at the World Shotgun Championships in Osijek, Croatia on Sunday.
The World Championships are also part of the qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, with four quota places on offer in each individual event.
Three-time Olympic champion Hancock made 32 extra hits in the rematch to earn a third place qualifier. The 33-year-old topped his ranking match ahead of Stefan Nilsson of Sweden, who made all 125 of his shots in qualifying.
Mehelba led her charge and entered the medal match alongside Qatar’s Rashid Al-Athba.
It was mostly a game between Mehelba and Hancock after both made their first 24 attempts. However, Hancock missed his 26th while 31-year-old Mehelba kept his nerve to hit all the remaining targets and win his first world title.
Al-Athba beat Nilsson to fourth and Egypt, the USA, Qatar and Sweden received their quota places for Paris 2024.
Italy’s Rio Olympic champion Diana Bacosi, 39, won the women’s event with a dominant 37-hit performance, missing just one shot in the final against 2015 World Cup champion Amber Hill. The 25-year-old, who had already secured a Paris 2024 quota for Great Britain at the European Championships, made 31 hits in the medal match for a silver.
Samantha Simonton of the United States, 22, took bronze, her first world championship medal. Vanesa Hockova, despite missing the podium, earned a place in Paris 2024 for Slovak.