Shooters round off year at Bangkok World Cup

Athletes will get one final chance this year to earn points towards next year’s World Championships, when the Bangkok 2017 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup gets underway on Wednesday (8 November) in Thailand.

The World Cup runs until Saturday (11 November) and will see the largest gathering of athletes this year, with more than 120 shooters from 17 countries expected to compete over 14 medal events.

South Korea, the 2018 Worlds host, will have the largest delegation in Bangkok, with many of its athletes returning to the range for the first time since the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Geunsoo Kim is their top athlete, having won the silver medal in the R5 (mixed 10m air rifle prone SH2) and bronze in the R4 (mixed 10m air standing SH2) in Rio.

Three Paralympic bronze medallists from South Korea are also among the ones to watch in Bangkok. Su Wan Kim made the Paralympic podium in the R1 (men’s 10m air rifle standing SH1) and will look to do likewise in Bangkok. Two-time Paralympic champion Yunri Lee will try to get back to her gold-medal winning ways after capturing bronze in the R8 (women’s 50m sport rifle 3 positions SH1) from Rio, becoming her nation’s lone female Paralympic medallist in the sport at those Games. Jangho Lee showed promise in his Paralympic debut last year when he finished third in the R3 (mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1). In Bangkok, he could record his first major victory ahead of his home World Championships next year.

Other contenders to look out for include reigning R3 world champion Jinho Park. The South Korean is looking for a return to the podium in the R6 (mixed 50m rifle prone) after missing out in Rio, as well as New Zealand’s multi-world and Paralympic champion Michael Johnson.

The USA’s rising star McKenna Dahl will take on her third World Shooting Para Sport competition this year. The 21-year-old is coming off a victory from the USA Shooting National Championships in R5, the very event she captured bronze in Rio and became her country’s first female shooter to win a Paralympic medal.

United Arab Emirates’ Abdulla Sultan Alaryani is fresh off two individual medals from the last World Cup in September in Osijek, Croatia. The Rio 2016 silver medallist remains undefeated in the R7 (men’s 50m rifle 3 positions SH1). He will also try to do one better than his second-place finish in Osijek in the R1.

The Bangkok World Cup will give athletes an opportunity to earn minimum qualification standard (MSQ) points towards the 2018 World Shooting Para Sport Championships in Cheongju, South Korea, to be held 1-12 May.

Live results will be available on World Shooting Para Sport's website.