The world’s best shotgun athletes have converged on Doha for the Final Olympic Qualification Championship, where finals start tomorrow offering two quota places each for the Paris 2024 Games.
For many present in the Qatari capital this will be the last chance to earn an Olympic quota place in competition, although European athletes will have a final opportunity at their continental Shotgun Championships which will take place in Lonato, Italy from May 15 to 27.
As expected, a huge total of 443 athletes from 83 nations are taking part in the four scheduled individual events, with the men’s and women’s trap finals taking place tomorrow (April 23) and skeet finals scheduled for Sunday (April 28).
Most of the top ten world-ranked athletes in the men’s and women’s trap and skeet events will be involved at the Lusail Shooting Complex, which hosted last November’s ISSF World Cup Final.
The trap men features seven of the ten top world ranked athletes - Alberto Fernandez of Spain (1st), Talal Alrashidi of Kuwait (2nd), David Kostelecky of the Czech Republic (3rd), Mohammed Al Rumaihi of Qatar (4th), James Willett of Australia (5th) equal sixth-placed Mohammad Beyranvand, the 15-year-old from Iran, and equal ninth-placed Guo Yuhao of China.
Also in the lists is the Egyptian who won World Cup Final gold at this venue, Egypt’s Abdel Mehelba.
The trap women event includes nine of the top ten world-ranked athletes – in order, Alessandra Perilli of San Marino, Mariya Dimitriyenko of Kazakhstan, Fatima Galvez of Spain, Jessica Rossi of Italy, Ryann Phillips of the United States, Augusta Campos-Martyn of Puerto Rico, Rumesaya Kaya of Turkey, Sandra Bernal of Poland and tenth-ranked Melanie Couzy of France.
Seven of the top 10 skeet men are in the lists. Tammaro Cassandro and Gabriele Rossetti of Italy, respectively first and second, Britain’s Ben Llewellin, Daniel Korcak of the Czech Republic, equal sixth-ranked Azmy Mehelba of Egypt, ninth-ranked Sven Korte of Sweden and Emil Petersen of the Denmark, the World Cup Final gold medallist.
The skeet women features world number two Reem Al Sharshani of Qatar, third-ranked Lucie Anastassiou of France, fourth-ranked Victoria Larsson of Sweden, fifth-ranked Simona Scocchetti of Italy, eighth-ranked Ganemat Sekhon of India and ninth-ranked Noemie Battault of France.
Hosts Qatar field 12 athletes, as do Kazakhstan, Kuwait, India, China and Azerbaijan. Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Great Britain, Italy, Ukraine and the United States all field 11.
Live coverage of the finals will be available on the ISSF You Tube and Facebook channels.