Pellielo and Nicolaides bag gold

Italy's Giovanni Pellielo walked into the history books of shooting when he helped himself to a sixth world crown in the men's trap at the Dubai Calibre 2005 the ISSF World Cup Final at the Jebel Ali Shooting Club yesterday.

And matching the Italian effort was a pair of Cypriots Antonis Nicolaides and George Achilleos as they helped themselves to the gold and bronze medals in the men's Skeet competition.

Yesterday was the second day of the ISSF World Cup Final and there was no dearth of excitement.

It was Pellielo who hogged the limelight as he did all the right things to keep abreast of the Russian challenge posed by overnight leader Alexey Alipov.

This was the sixth World Cup Final title for the Italian, and he has been on the podium a record 10 times starting from 1992.

"When one reaches a certain stage in his career, there is no time to keep a count of his glories," Pellielo told Gulf News.

"It's a proud moment for me, but I could not have been here without some excellent support from the coaching staff," Pellielo admitted.

Alipov, who had shot a perfect 75 after three visits to the range on the opening day, squandered the early advantage and returned with scores of 23 and 25 in the next two rounds.

That was the opportunity Pellielo needed as he maintained perfect scores of 25s in the next two rounds to tie the Russian's total of 123.

The final round was a nervy affair, but Pellielo kept his cool and shot a reasonable 22 to win the gold. Alipov had to stay content with a disappointing silver, while defending champion Adam Vella of Australia took the bronze.

"I am disappointed with the way things worked out for me today," Alipov shrugged.

"I thought I had things under control after starting with a perfect score. But then, this is sport," the Russian added without trying to hide his disappointment.

Dispossessed of his crown, Vella tried to sound optimistic. "A medal is a medal. Either way I will take it, moreso because of the stiff competition one encounters at such a prestigious event," the Australian stated.

The men's Skeet witnessed some stiff competition as well as overnight leader Nicolaides battled to keep away teammate and friend George Achilleos from the gold.

Achilleos had made a charge at the top after two perfect rounds of 25 to tie Nicolaides's score of 124 yesterday.

However, a crucial miss on the unlucky 13th target cost him a possible crack at the gold medal. "That was the most disheartening miss of all. I think that miss was the costliest one of my entire career," Achilleos admitted later.

"But that miss also helped me keep my concentration and focus for the next part of the competition," he added.

That miss on the 13th from Achilleos was enough for Nicolaides to power through with the gold with a total of 149 while Brovold, Achilleos and Vincent Hancock settled fot a shoot-off after totalling 148 each. Brovold and Achilleos missed on their very first attempt to hand over the silver to Hancock. And then the duo went through a gruelling shoot-off of 38 targets before the defending champion from Norway missed to give Achilleos his third medal for this year.

Hancock, who had worked his way from fourth place, could not hide his disappointment. "This is not what I came for here. But there was no fault in myself or the way I shot. But my best was not enough for the gold medal," Hancock shrugged.

Nicolaides could not hide his thrill at landing his first world crown. "To be the new champion is a great feeling," the Cypriot stated.

At last year's World Cup Final in Maribor, Nicolaides was placed fourth fter shooting 75 on Day 1.

"After he (Achilleos) missed the 13th target, the pressure was even more on me as I needed to keep my focus and ensure that I do not make mistakes," Nicolaides said.

Today is the official training for the double trap shooters.

Results

Skeet Men's: 1. Antonis Nicolaides, Cyprus (149 pts); 2. Vincent Hancock, USA (148); 3. George Achilleos, Cyprus (148); 4. Tore Brovold, Norway (148); 5. Erik Watndal, Norway (147); 6. Ennio Falco, Italy (147).

Trap Men's: 1. Giovanni Pellielo, Italy (145); 2. Alexey Alipov, Russia (144); 3. Adam Vella, Australia (143); 4. Massimo Fabbrizi, Italy (141); 5. Michael Diamond, Australia (138); 6. Pavel Gurkin, Russia (138).