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).
