Russia secure podium double at shooting World Cup

Over on the rifle range, Germany’s European champion Natascha Hiltrop made her intentions clear for the Paralympic year with a win in R3 (mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1).

The Russian duo of Andrey Lebedinskiy and Alexander Belousov claimed the first two spots on the podium at the IPC Shooting World Cup in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Saturday (23 January), pushing Swedish world champion Joackim Norberg into third.

The gold for Lebedinskiy and silver for Belousov came in P3 (mixed 25m pistol SH1) at the opening World Cup of 2016.

In the semi-finals Lebedinskiy advanced to the gold medal match with ease. However Belousov faced a shoot-off with Norberg for his place, going on to confirm the clash for victory with his teammate.

Lebedinskiy outscored Belousov 7-1 in the final.

Norberg was left with a face-off with South Korea’s Juhee Lee, in which he claimed the final spot on the podium.

Over on the rifle range, Germany’s European champion Natascha Hiltrop made her intentions clear for the Paralympic year with a win in R3 (mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1).

The 23-year-old secured the gold medal against a stacked field, including several world and Paralympic rifle medallists.

Hiltrop (212.8) maintained the lead throughout the match. Great Britain’s World Championships silver medallist Matt Skelhon (211.4) took second.

Slovakia’s Veronika Vadovicova, also one of the world’s leading rifle shooters with seven World and Paralympic podiums to her name, was third with 189.7.

In the team event, Abdulla Saif Alaryani, Abdulla Sultan Alaryani and Obaid Aldahmani claimed gold for hosts the UAE.

Their score of 1893.9 meant they led the French team of Cedric Fevre, Didier Richard and Christophe Tanche (1891.5) onto the podium in second.

The Australian trio of Anton Lee Zappelli, Natalia Smith and Elizabeth Kosmala (1881.5) took bronze.

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

Competition continues in Al Ain on Sunday (24 January) with P1 (men’s 10m air pistol SH1), R1 (men’s 10m air rifle standing SH1) and R8 (women’s 50m rifle three positions SH1).