Alaryani secures victory at home shooting World Cup

Australia’s Natalie Smith secured a sensational victory over Slovakian Paralympic and World Championships medallist Veronika Vadovicova in R8 (women’s 50m rifle three positions SH1).

The United Arab Emirates’ Abdulla Sultan Alaryani impressed on home soil on Sunday (24 January), with a convincing win at the IPC Shooting World Cup in Al Ain.

Alaryani took gold in R1 (men’s 10m air rifle standing SH1) at the opening World Cup of 2016 as he prepares to defend his R6 (mixed 50m rifle prone SH1) Paralympic title from the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

The 45-year-old excelled from the start of the final to finish with a 204.7 score.

Ukraine’s Iurii Stoev (203.7) was second and Sweden’s Martin Hall (181.3) third.

Australia’s Natalie Smith secured a sensational victory over Slovakian Paralympic and World Championships medallist Veronika Vadovicova in R8 (women’s 50m rifle three positions SH1).

Smith sealed the win after overtaking London 2012 bronze medallist Vadovicova during the standing round.

Vadovicova had taken the lead in the early stages of the match, easing into first place during the kneeling round and maintaining it during the prone.

However Smith had other ideas, out-shooting the Slovakian with the first shots of the standing portion. Smith retained her position throughout, finishing with a 10.9 to seal the win and a new Oceania record of 450.0.

Vadovicova (448.5) took second ahead of Great Britain’s Lorraine Lambert (434.8) in third.

South Korea’s Juhee Lee (194.9) also came from behind to claim the top spot on the P1 (men’s 10m air pistol SH1) podium.

Initially trailling Russia’s Sergey Malyshev (192.2), in the fifth round of elimination Lee capitalised on a low 8.8 from Malyshev to take the lead.

A 10.6 and 10.7 from Lee in the sixth was enough to secure gold, despite a low-scoring final set of shots.

Sweden’s Joackim Norberg (172.0) matched his performance from the opening day of competition (23 January) in P3 (mixed 25m pistol SH1) with third.

Full results and live results from each day are available at IPC Shooting's website.

Competition continues in Al Ain on Monday (25 January) with P2 (women’s 10m air pistol SH1), P5 (mixed 10m air rifle standard SH1), R2 (women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1), R7 (men’s 50m rifle three positions SH1) and R9 (mixed 50m rifle prone SH2).