Denysiuk doubles-up at IPC Shooting World Cup

Ukraine’s Oleksii Denysiuk continued his exceptional start to the Paralympic year with his second consecutive gold at the IPC Shooting World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday (16 March).

After securing his first win on the pistol range on the opening day of competition on Tuesday (15 March), Denysiuk completed a stunning comeback to take victory in P1 (men’s 10m air pistol SH1).

The Ukrainian had a strong start in the elimination round, taking an early lead. However he soon dropped to third place, leaving Turkey’s Korhan Yamac at the top of the rankings.

Turning the tables once again, by the fifth round Denysiuk had moved up to second, overtaking South Korea’s Juhee Lee.

Taking his last chance at gold, Denysiuk then rose above Yamac with his final shots as the Turkish shooter twice dropped below 10.0.

Denysiuk’s total of 196.0 handed him the win ahead of Yamac (194.6) and Lee (173.7).

In the team event, Lee’s score helped South Korea to gold alongside Youngkyun Seo and Heejung Lee (1678). Poland’s Szymon Sowinski, Slawomir Okoniewski and Filip Rodzik (1648) were second. Thailand claimed their third team medal at home, led by Pawaris Suksa-Ard, Sommai Atsa and Watchara Ingsanthia (1608).

Ukraine’s World Championships bronze medallist Andrii Doroshenko (203.9) converted a good qualification performance into gold in R1 (men’s 10m air rifle standing SH1).

Doroshenko initially trailed the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Abdullah Sultan Alaryani (203.0) in the final but managed to outscore the Emirati in the closing stages.

Obaid Aldahmani (181.3) picked up another medal for the UAE with bronze.

A shoot-off decided the gold medal winner in R8 (women’s 50m rifle three positions SH1).

Slovakia’s European champion Veronika Vadovicova was defeated by Germany’s Elke Seeliger, despite Vadovicova coming from behind in the standing round.

Both women finished with 437.6, but it was Seeliger who held her nerve, scoring a 9.5 compared to the Slovakian’s 8.9 in the shoot-off to take gold.

Germany’s Natascha Hiltrop (424.7) left with bronze thanks to some strong shooting in the kneeling and prone rounds.

In P5 (mixed 10m air pistol standard SH1), Brazil’s Geraldo Rosenthal (349) was the victor. He just pipped the USA’s Michael Tagliepietra (348) to the win with Hungary’s Gyula Gurisatti (345) in third.

Competition continues in Bangkok on Thursday (17 March) with P2 (women’s 10m air pistol SH1), R2 (women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1) and R7 (men’s 50m rifle three positions SH1).

Live results are available each day online.