Rome (ITA): Natalie Rooney of New Zealand, who won silver at the Rio 2016 Summer Game beat defending Champion Alessandra Perilli of San Marino to win Trap final. In a nail-biting shoot off which the two athletes were in for the decider, The two athletes shot neck and neck right to the last target, before Rooney prevailed over Perilli to win the gold medal podium. Corey Cogdell of USA finished at the bronze with 12 hits while Lebanon’s Ray Bassil took 4th place with 10 clays.
Kiwi Athlete Rooney reached the final after 13 hits out of 15 targets in the semifinal, while San Marino’s Perilli, entered the final with 12 hits off 15 targets.
In the final, both hit 9 clays out of 15 each, due to the wind and the challenging light conditions, and then had to enter a shoot-off which lasted right to the 10th target, when Perilli missed a fatal clay to win silver with 9+9 hits, and leaving the gold to Rooney with 9+10 targets.
Speaking post her win, Natalie Rooney said, “This has been my second ISSF World Cup Final, so I knew what to expect. I tried to go out there and do my best, and I made it, so I am really happy.”
The Rio Olympics Silver Medalist had finished at 9th at last year’s final in Nicosia.
Speaking further about the light conditions and wind, she added, “The light changed a lot this morning, and then the wind picked up this afternoon. That made it really difficult out there. I was feeling pretty good during the semi-final, I knew what kind of rhythm I was going to do and I stuck to that. The final was more difficult, the wind picked up more, it became really hard, and that reflected on the scores.”
Speaking about her silver medal appearance at the Rio 2016 Summer Games, she said, “The Rio 2016 experience has been pretty amazing, it was my first Olympics, and the reactions at home have been awesome to my silver medal. Shooting sport just got a lot more recognition in New Zealand.”
The ISSF Shotgun World Cup will continue tomorrow with the last medal event, the men’s Trap Final.