Legendary Tanguy de La Forest brings 2023 action to a close at Al Ain World Cup

The 2023 Shooting Para Sport season came to a finale with an exhilarating few days of action at the Al Ain World Cup.

The long-time familiar home which hosted the 2022 World Championships provided moment after moment once again, particularly for both the hosts and South Korea athletes on show. But there was one man who once again ensured he will leave with the headlines.

Here’s the very best of what went down:

Tanguy makes no mistake

This man is special. So long a stalwart of the international scene, Tanguy de La Forest has almost all of the accolades it is possible to have in this sport. And he added yet more to his dazzling medal collection here.

Beginning with a successful performance in the R4 – mixed 10m air rifle standing SH2, his grand total of 637.0 blew the opposition away. And having set himself in such good stead early on, there was always more glory destined to come his way.

R5 success came next, recording a 639.0 to inch past his French compatriot Justine Beve in the mixed 10m air rifle prone SH2. And on the final day of competition, de La Forest completed a week of perfection by securing gold in the R9 – mixed 50m rifle prone SH2. He did it with a world record score of 254 points. 

Alaryani does it again!

Abdullah Sultan Alaryani is shooting Para sport. Last year’s home hero at the Worlds came in with the weight of expectation on his shoulders again. He lived up to the hype. 

Alaryani romped to a huge victory in the R7-R8 mixed 50m 3 positions SH1 final, a colossal 460.6 total that saw him finish more than 8.0 ahead of second place Anna Benson of Sweden. His silver in the R6 - mixed 50m rifle prone SH1 came behind the impressive Lee Jang-Ho.

A Korean spectacle

Al Ain is a happy hunting ground for Lee Jang-Ho. At the location where he secured a world title last year, he made the perfect beginning to his World Cup by claiming the glory in the R3 – mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1. 

The Rio 2016 bronze medallist would add a further bronze to his tally in the R1 – men’s 10m air rifle standing SH1, with the same colour in the R7-R8 mixed 50m too. 

And his World Cup was completed with one more gold to his ever-impressive name, this one coming in the R6 mixed 50m final where he managed to see off United Arab Emirates’ great Alaryani. 

Jungnam Kim was another Korean athlete to achieve success this time around, prevailing in the P1 – men’s 10m air pistol SH1 ahead of Australia’s Christopher Pitt and the P3 – mixed 25m pistol SH1.

Complete results from the Al Ain 2023 World Cup can be found here.

What is Next?

2023 is done. Who is ready for an enormous 2024?

In case you did not get the memo (and where were you if not?), next year is going to be one of the biggest in the history of the sport. 

It will kick off with the first-ever World Cup to take place in India, in New Delhi in March followed by the Changwon World Cup in South Korea.

We have got a European Championships in Granada, coinciding with the Para Trap World Championships in the same location. And then, it is time for the big one. 

From 30 August to 5 September, the very best in the world will call Paris their home as the Paralympic Games come around once again.  

The 2024 World Shooting Para Sport Competition Calendar is available here.