Media releases

Tokyo Olympic Games team member, Alex Hoberg, held his nerve to snatch a last shot victory to capture the 10m Air Rifle gold medal at the Target Rifle Victoria State Championships Performance Series Final this afternoon.

Shooting remotely from the Wingfield Rifle Range in Adelaide, Hoberg trailed fellow South Australian Katarina Kowplos by 0.5 points going into the 24^th and final shot.

Kowplos, who will shoot 50m Rifle 3 Positions at the Tokyo Olympics, fired three outstanding consecutive scores of 10.9, 10.8 and 10.8 to take a one point lead after 23 shots.

However, Kowplos opened the door to Hoberg when registering 9.2 points with her final shot while Hoberg leap-frogged to a 0.5 victory with a solid final score of 10.2.

Hoberg’s final score was 249.9, ahead of Kowplos (249.4 points) with Queensland’s Dane Sampson (227.9) taking the bronze medal.

It was Hoberg’s second consecutive victory in the 10m Air Rifle having won gold two weeks ago with a score of 249.3.

Hoberg was the third highest qualifier for the final which was headed by South Australia’s Tori Rossiter.

In the qualifying round, Rossiter broke her own Australian Open and Junior 10m Air Rifle record with a score of 631.5 – 1.1 points higher than the record she set at the Adelaide Grand Prix just two weeks ago.

However, Rossiter was unable to maintain her form in the final and was the first of eight qualifiers eliminated.

In the 50m Prone Rifle event, Sampson recorded his highest score of the Performance Series when registering 619.5 points to capture the gold medal.

Sampson defeated Victorians Daniel Croatto (617.3) and Elise Collier (616.4).

Collier, who will contest the women’s 10m Air Rifle at the Tokyo Olympic Games, was within 0.1 points of Sampson going into the sixth and final series.

Sampson and Croatto both registered scores of 103.9, while Collier slipped to the bronze medal podium place with 100.9 points.

Tomorrow will see the 50m Rifle 3 Position event held, commencing at 9am (Victorian time).

Australian Tokyo Olympic Games team member, Elise Collier, will make a welcome appearance at the Target Rifle Victoria State Championships to be held at Melbourne International Shooting Club on Saturday and Sunday.

Collier will compete in the 10m Air Rifle, 50m Rifle Prone, and 50m Rifle 3 Positions events.

The Melbourne-based Collier has been unable to compete with and against her Tokyo Games Rifle team-mates, Dane Sampson, Jack Rossiter, Alex Hoberg and Katarina Kowplos, this season because of Covid-19 restrictions.

While Collier will compete at the MISC Range, Sampson, Rossiter, Hoberg and Kowplos will compete remotely from the Wingfield Range in Adelaide.

Collier, who will compete in the women’s 10m Air Rifle event at the Tokyo Olympics, will add a further high competitive element to the mixed gender 10m Air Rifle event on Saturday with the best eight qualifiers advancing the final.

The quality of the event will be further heightened with the inclusion of leading Para Rifle athletes Glen McMurtrie and 2012 London Paralympic Games bronze medallist, Natalie Smith. McMurtrie and Smith will both compete remotely from the Brisbane International Shooting Centre.

Tori Rossiter, the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games representative, has enjoyed a tremendous 2021 Performance Series to date and has proven herself the athlete to beat in the 10m Air Rifle this Saturday.

Rossiter tops the 10m Air Rifle event Performance Series leaderboard on 58 points, ahead of Sampson (50 points) and Michael Davis and Jack Rossiter (both 46 points).
Sampson has the chance to extend his lead in the 50m 3 Positions and 50m Prone Performance Series leaderboards this weekend.

In the 3P event, Sampson (50 points) enjoys a 15 point lead over Davis and Jack Rossiter (both 35 points), while in the 50m Prone Rifle event, Sampson (45 points) heads Jack Rossiter (40 points) and Davis (35 points).

The Performance Series leaderboards can be viewed at 2021 Performance Series Leaderboard – Rifle – Shooting Australia .
The TRV Championships is also the first of five Rifle selection events for the Junior World Championships scheduled to be held in Peru in September and October.
The Junior World Championship selection criteria can be viewed at Selection Information – 2021 ISSF Junior World Championships – Shooting Australia .

Today we announced the Selection Criteria for teams to represent Australia at the Oceania Shooting Federation Championships in November and the 2022 Commonwealth Shooting and Archery Championships scheduled to be held in India next January.

It is planned Australia will be represented by Australia A and Australia B teams at the Oceania Shooting Federation Championships, and a single national team at the 2022 Commonwealth Shooting and Archery Championships.

For the Oceania Shooting Federation Championships, Shooting Australia may select up to three athletes in each event for both the Australia A and Australia B teams.

Shooting Australia may select up to two athletes in each event as part of the Australian team for the 2022 Commonwealth Shooting and Archery Championships.

To be eligible for Australian team selection, athletes must achieve an Average Performance Score (APS) that meets or exceeds the Minimum Performance Standard.

The Minimum Performance Standard to be achieved for each event for both Championships is:

An athletes APS for Oceania Shooting Federation Championships selection is determined by the average of an individual’s top three qualification scores in each relevant event during the designated Performance Window of 1 March 2019 until 12 September 2021.

An athletes APS for Commonwealth Shooting and Archery Championships selection is determined by the average of an individual’s top three qualification scores in each relevant event during the designated Performance Window of 1 March 2019 until 23 November 2021.

Athletes are to compete in a series of Selection Events to obtain a Selection Score. The Selection Events are specific events chosen from the 2021 Performance Series calendar and Event Points will be calculated using both Qualifying Points and Finishing Points for each competition.

At the end of the selection events, each athlete will obtain a Selection Score which is calculated on the combined total of their three highest Event Points. Selection Scores of eligible athletes will then be ranked from highest to lowest and used to select the National Team.

Shooting Australia Chief Executive, Luke van Kempen, said the Selection Criteria has been designed to maximise the number of medals Australian teams can win at benchmark international events such as ISSF World Championships and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

“We want to use these events to provide elite and identified pre-elite athletes with exposure to high quality international development that will help accelerate their development for 2024 and beyond,” said Mr van Kempen.

“As we are well aware, we are living in uncertain COVID-19 times and Shooting Australia remains agile regarding final arrangements for the Oceania Shooting Federation Championships and the 2022 Commonwealth Shooting and Archery Championships,” he added.

The full selection criteria can be read here.

Australian teams for the Oceania Shooting Federation Championship will be announced in September, and the 2022 Commonwealth Shooting and Archery Championships squad is scheduled be announced in November.

Victorian Michael Davis announced himself as a star of the future after a brilliant gold medal winning performance in the men’s 10m Air Rifle in the Adelaide Grand Prix held at the Wingfield Rifle Range today.

Davis, aged 19, upstaged Australian Tokyo Olympic Games team members Dane Sampson and Jack Rossiter to score his biggest victory in his career.

After qualifying in third place for the final with 626.6 points, Davis registered 249.5 points in the final to defeat Sampson (248.9 points) by 0.6 points with Rossiter (228.6 points) placed third.

Davis’ score was 0.2 higher than Alex Hoberg’s Adelaide Grand Prix event winning score on Saturday. Hoberg withdrew from the final today because of illness.

Davis’ final score today, like Hoberg’s total on Saturday and Sampson’s runner-up score today, was better than the 2018 ISSF World Championship winning score of 248.4 by Russia’ Sergey Kamenskiy.

Davis’ potential had been earmarked by the national selectors last month when he was named as a member of the National Performance Squad and he has his sights on a place in the Australian team to compete at the ISSF World Junior Championships scheduled to be held in Peru in September and October.

Today’s 10m Air Rifle final was also highlighted by Para Sport athlete, Glen McMurtrie, qualifying for the final where he was placed seventh.

McMurtrie is aiming to win selection in the Australian team for the Tokyo Paralympic Games to be held in August and September.

McMurtrie’s fellow Para Sports athlete, 2012 London Paralympic Games bronze medallist, Natalie Smith, narrowly missed the final after qualifying in ninth position.

At the BISC Pistol Cup 2 women’s 10m Air Pistol final held at the Brisbane International Shooting Centre today, Olympian Dina Aspandiyarova returned to the top of the medal dais.

Aspandiyarova was placed third in last month’s women’s 10m Air Pistol final but scored a commanding victory today when shooting 237.1 points to comfortably defeat Olympian Elena Galiabovitch (233.7 points) and Western Australia’s Siobhy Nicholls (212.2 points).

Aspandiyarova was the second highest qualifier for the final with 2018 Australian Youth Olympics representative, Olivia Erickson, shooting an impressive 564 to head the qualifying leaderboard.

Four-time Olympian, Dan Repacholi, registered his second successive victory of the season in the men’s 10m Air Pistol after winning the gold medal in last month’s final.

Repacholi (241.2 points) led the final after every stage to outpoint Western Australia’s Bailey Groves (239.9 points) and Tokyo Olympic Games team-member, Sergei Evglevski (217.1 points).

Australian Olympic Games team member, Alex Hoberg, produced a world class performance when capturing the 10m Air Rifle gold medal at the Adelaide Grand Prix held at Wingfield Rifle Range today.

Hoberg was superb when totalling 249.3 points – a score which would have earned him the gold medal at the 2018 ISSF World Championships. His score was 0.9 superior than the championship winning score posted by Russia’s Sergey Kamenskiy.

While Hoberg’s performance in the final was impressive, so was that of silver medallist, Tori Rossiter (249.1 points), who was just 0.2 points behind Hoberg’s gold medal winning score. Olympian Dane Sampson (228.7 points) was placed third.

In a tight see-sawing final, Rossiter held a slight 0.4 point lead going into the final two shots. Hoberg fired rounds of 10.2 and 10.1 while Rossiter managed 9.6 and 10.1.

Despite missing out on the gold medal, Rossiter was well satisfied having set a new women’s Australian open and junior record in the event qualifying round.

Rossiter topped the qualifying scoreboard with 630.4 points which was 1.2 points higher than the previous records set by Australian Olympic Games team-member, Elise Collier, last year.

Also in great form today was Olympic Games team member, Sergei Evglevski, when winning the men’s 25m Rapid Fire gold medal at the BISC Pistol Cup at the Brisbane International Shooting Centre.

Evglevski fired an impressive qualifying score of 586 which was just one point behind his personal best score of 587 set in the Sydney Cup in 2019.

Evglevski’s score would have been good enough to qualify for the 25m Rapid Fire finals at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and the 2018 ISSF World Championships.

In the final, Evglevski (30 points) was all class when eclipsing ACT’s Thomas Ashmore (26 points) and Queensland’s Alfio Casagrande (15 points).

Once again, National Performance Squad member Ashmore pushed Evglevski all the way in the final trailing by only one shot going into the final flight of five shots.

Evglevski rose to the occasion shooting a perfect score of five while Ashmore managed two from five.

In the women’s 25m Pistol final, Queensland’s Civon Smith caused a boilover when downing Olympian Elena Galiabovitch to take the gold medal.

Galiabovitch was on the back foot from the outset scoring one from her first five shots while Smith was on target with four shots.

Smith (28 points) maintained the advantage after each stage of the final to defeat Galiabovitch (23 points) by a comfortable five shots with Western Australia’s Siobhy Nicholls (17 points) placed third.

Tomorrow will see the men’s and women’s 10m Air Pistol at BISC while the second 10m Air Rifle event will be held at Wingfield Rifle Range

For full results from today, click here.

Tokyo Olympic Games team member, Sergei Evglevski, survived a mid-round stumble to recover and capture the men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol gold medal in the BISC Cup at the Brisbane International Shooting Centre today.

Evglevski was in commanding form in the qualifying round scoring a world-class 582 points but faced stiff opposition from ACT’s Thomas Ashmore in the final.Both competitors were neck and neck after the first three rounds of the final before Evglevski nudged three shots ahead after the fourth round.

Then in a stunning reversal, the Victorian lost the lead when managing only one target in the fifth round while Ashmore leap-frogged to a one shot lead after shooting a perfect round of five targets.

Evglevski was forced to dig deep and he responded magnificently with two perfect rounds of five points plus a near-perfect score of four targets in the final three rounds to tally an overall score of 30 points – three points ahead of the luckless Ashmore with Queensland’s Alfio Casagrande (14 points) taking the bronze medal.

Evglevski’s fellow Victorian, Elena Galiabovitch, captured her second gold medal of the competition when winning the women’s 10m Air Pistol final.

Galiabovitch continued her good form amassing 238.0 points to defeat Queenslanders Civon Smith (234.1) and Dina Aspandiyarova (213.8).

While the eventual winning margin was 3.9 points, Smith justified her recent selection in the National Pathways Squad with a strong performance and was within just 0.4 points of the 2016 Rio Olympian at the midpoint of the final.

But Galiabovitch proved too strong and too consistent in the final stages to claim the gold medal.

While Aspandiyarova was unable to match Galiabovitch and Smith in the final, the three-time Olympian will take heart from recording her personal best qualifying score of 572 – six points better than her 566 recorded at the 2019 Oceania Championships.

The full results can be viewed at PSQ Competitions (pistolshootingqld.org.au)

Four-time Olympian Dan Repacholi drew on all his experience and fighting qualities to complete a last gasp victory in the men’s 10m Air Pistol final in the BISC Cup held at the Brisbane International Shooting Centre today.

Repacholi entered the final as the top ranked competitor after the qualification round and staged a remarkable comeback to snatch victory away from seventh ranked finalist, ACT’s Thomas Ashmore.

In the final, Ashmore opened a 1.6 point lead over Repacholi after the first 20 shots and extended the margin to 5.5 points with six shots remaining.

However, the burly Cessnock athlete found his range to post consistent scores in the tens, while Ashmore faltered in the closing rounds.

Repacholi ultimately scored 238.9 points to defeat Ashmore (237.6 points) by a comfortable 1.3 point margin with Repacholi’s Tokyo Olympic Games team-mate, Sergei Evglevski (218.4), collecting the bronze medal.

In the women’s 25m Pistol final, Tokyo Olympic team member, Elena Galiabovitch, had to stave off a strong challenge from Brisbane local, Civon Smith, to capture the gold medal.

Smith laid down the challenge in the qualifying round when shooting an impressive 580 points compared to Galiabovitch’s 574.

In the final, little separated the two athletes, but Galiabovitch (24 points) prevailed to defeat Smith (22 points) by two points with another Tokyo Games team-member, Dina Aspandiyarova (15 points) placed third.

Tomorrow will see the women’s 10m Air Pistol and the men’s Rapid Fire Pistol events from 8.30am (Qld time).

Australia’s four Tokyo Olympic Games Pistol team members will conclude a month-long training camp and contest the BISC Cup at the Brisbane International Shooting Centre in Belmont tomorrow and Sunday.

The BISC Cup is the first of eight Pistol events which form part of Shooting Australia’s National Performance Series.

Tokyo Games selections Dina Aspandiyarova, Elena Galiabovitch, Sergei Evglevski and Daniel Repacholi will be in action along with athletes from NSW and ACT.

The quartet have been training under the watchful eye of National Pistol Coach, Vladimir Galiabovitch, and marks the commencement of their countdown to the Tokyo Olympic Games in July.

Evglevski said; “I’m really keen to shoot and to finally compete in a proper competition. We have all been through a lot, so it’ll be great to catch up with everyone, shoot some tens and to have some fun.”

The Pistol members of the Australian Olympic team are:

• Elena Galiabovitch: Elena is a Melbourne doctor who is studying for a Master’s degree and is undertaking research work in her goal to become a urological surgeon. While studying and training for the Tokyo Olympics, Elena has been working as a locum and, as recently as New Year’s Day, she was working in a COVID screening clinic in Melbourne trying to get as many people through and tested as possible. Elena competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The Belmont Shooting Range holds happy memories for Elena as she won the silver medal in the 25m Sports Pistol and bronze in the 10m Air Pistol at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
• Daniel Repacholi: Tokyo will be Repacholi’s fifth Olympic Games having previously attended the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics. Hailing from Cessnock in NSW’s Hunter Valley region, the bearded giant also has fond memories at BISC winning a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games where he was watched on by his wife Alex and daughters Zoe and Asha.
• Sergei Evglevski: Tokyo will be Sergei’s first Olympics and his bloodlines suggest Games representation was always his destiny. Sergei’s dad, Sergei Snr, was a two-time Australian Olympic team gunsmith and his mother, Lalita Yauhleuskaya, won the 25m Pistol bronze medal for Belarus at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games before settling in Australia. She represented her adopted country at three Olympic Games and at five Commonwealth Games. Lalita and Sergei were mother and son team-mates at the 2018 Commonwealth Games where Sergei claimed the silver medal in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol.
• Dina Aspandiyarova: Tokyo will be Dina’s fourth Olympics having previously represented her native Kazakhstan in 2000, and 2008 and 2012 for Australia plus the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games. Dina lives at Ormeau with her husband, former Australian and Kazakhstan Olympic Pistol coach, Anatoly Babushkin. Dina coaches over 60 pistol shooters around the world via Skype, and travels across Queensland to speak with school children as part of the Australian Olympic Committee’s Olympics Unleashed education program.

The Tokyo team members will be joined in the competition by junior Queensland Pistol athletes.

The BISC Cup is the first of five Pistol nomination events to win selection on the Australian team to compete at the Junior World Championships which is scheduled to be held in Peru in September and October.

The Junior World Championship Australian team selection criteria can be viewed here

The BISC Cup schedule will see women’s 25m Pistol and men’s 10m Air Pistol held from 8.30am tomorrow, and the women’s 10m Air Pistol and men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol held from 8.30am on Sunday.

At each 2021 Performance Series event, athletes will be awarded points based on their finishing position.

The points allocation is:

At the conclusion of the 2021 Performance Series, the athlete who accumulates the most points in each of the events, will be declared the 2021 Performance Series winner.

Media are welcome to attend the BISC Cup to film competition and record interviews.

Today we announced the names of 54 athletes who have been selected to our new three-tiered National Squad structure.

Our National Squad now include:

• High Performance Squad – Current world-class athletes who have demonstrated their ability to regularly make finals and win medals in International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) competitions in recent years
• Performance Squad – Athletes who are regularly achieving selection to National Teams and whose international performances indicate that they are ‘on track’ to making finals and win medals in ISSF competitions
• Pathways Squad – Athletes who are considered capable of achieving National Team selection based largely on their performances in domestic competition (i.e. junior or senior) and demonstrated commitment to becoming a High Performance athlete.

The new squad structure replaces the former Aiming for Gold (A4G) Squad and enables us to recognise and support athletes at different stages of Shooting’s performance pathway by providing improved access to coaching, development opportunities and performance support.

CEO, Luke van Kempen, said the new structure, which includes Able and Para Shooting athletes, followed an internal review last year and is in line with the Australian Institute of Sport direction for funded sports.

“We congratulate the selected athletes who will benefit significantly from access to a range of opportunities and resources that are geared towards them reaching their full performance potential,” said Mr van Kempen.

“For the athletes, selection comes with an expectation of a high level of commitment and a willingness to work hard in training and competition, as well as regularly engaging with National Team coaching and support staff,” he added.

“One of the most important benefit for selected athletes is the opportunity to participate in an athlete planning sessions with the National Coach and/or Pathway Manager.

“This process allows athletes to look at where they currently sit in relation to the world’s best and develop an Individual Performance Plan, identifying strengths and development opportunities,” he added.

Mr van Kempen said the new squad structure opens opportunities for athletes who have, or currently participate, in other non-Olympic or Paralympic disciplines.

“Under this new structure, Shooting Australia will collaborate with our Member Organisations to reach further into the pathway than ever before. We want to work with competitors earlier in their career, who have a goal to one day win Olympic or Paralympic selection, while continuing to refine the pathway through which they can pursue their goals,” said Mr van Kempen.

Full list of 2021 National Squad Members here