Australia will have six athletes in action when the men’s 10m Air Rifle, the women’s 10m Air Pistol, and the men’s and women’s Skeet events are contested on Day 2 of the Tokyo Olympics tomorrow.
Queensland’s Dane Sampson will line up for his third Olympic Games in the men’s 10m Air Rifle where he will be joined by 19-year-old South Australian, Alex Hoberg, who is the youngest athlete in the 15-member Australian Olympic Shooting Team.
In the women’s 10m Air Pistol, Queensland’s Dina Aspandiyarova will contest her fourth Olympics while Victoria’s Elena Galiabovitch is backing up after attending the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Rio 2016 Olympian Paul Adams returns in the men’s Skeet while 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Laura Coles, will make her Olympic debut in the women’s Skeet.
Sampson and Hoberg have enjoyed fine form during Shooting Australia’s Performance Series this year and both will be looking to elevate their scores even higher during the demanding qualification round.
Sampson has a busy Games schedule where he is also entered in the 50m Rifle Three Positions and the Mixed 10m Air Rifle Teams.
The Australian pair face stiff opposition with 2018 ISSF World Championship placegetters, Sergey Kamenskiy (Russian Olympic Committee), Petar Gorsa (Croatia) and Miran Maricic (Croatia), all seeking Olympic success.
After carrying the Olympic flag in the Opening Ceremony, Galiabovitch is keen to focus her energies on the women’s 10m Air Pistol – the first of her two individual events at the Games.
Aspandiyarova had retired after the 2012 London Olympic Games but made a comeback to the sport following the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games after setting up an online international coaching program.
Nothing has separated Galiabovitch and Aspandiyarova during this year’s Shooting Australia’s Performance Series with each winning two of the four competitions held prior to the Olympics.
In the men’s Skeet, Paul Adams overhauled his training program this year where has concentrated on quality training rather than quantity and he arrives in Tokyo fresh and confident of strong performance.
His main opposition will be decorated Italian shooter, Gabriela Rossetti, who will be looking to defend his 2016 Olympic gold medal title here in Tokyo.
Italian shooters will also be Coles’ main rivals with Diana Bacosi and Chiara Cainero taking the gold and silver medals at the 2018 ISSF World Championships while China’s Men Wei holds the qualifying world record of 124 from 125 targets set in 2019.
Qualifying for both the men’s and women’s Skeet events will be held over two days, with 75 targets shot tomorrow with the final 50 targets on Monday, Day 3 of the Games. The top six qualifiers will contest the final on Monday afternoon.
