Virtual gold medal success for Evglevski

Tokyo Olympic Games team member, Sergei Evglevski, overcame the obstacle of competing remotely in Melbourne to claim the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol gold medal at the Brisbane Cup 2 championship held at the Brisbane International Shooting Centre today.

The Victorian COVID-19 lockdown prevented Evglevski and other Melbourne-based competitors from attending the championship in Brisbane, but they still managed to compete via video stream.

Despite not experiencing the competition in person, Evglevski (27 points) captured the gold medal when outpointing WA’s Bailey Groves (24 points) and ACT’s Thomas Ashmore (21 points).

Groves pushed Evglevski throughout the final and it took a perfect string of five points from five shots in the eighth and final round to clinch victory.

Earlier, Evglevski registered another world class qualifying score of 577 points to be the top ranked competitor in the final.

Also enjoying remote competition gold medal success was Victorian Elise Collier when teamed with Queenslander Dane Sampson to capture the Mixed 10m Air Rifle Pairs final.

With the first team to reach 16 points claiming the gold medal, Collier and Sampson edged aside the South Australian pair of Jack Rossiter and Emma Adams 16-12 in a high quality final.

The bronze medal was earned by Tokyo team-members Katarina Kowplos and Alex Hoberg who were too strong for Australian Para Sport pair, Queenslanders Natalie Smith and Glen McMurtrie, to win 16-8.

Earlier, Sampson earned his first gold medal of the day when triumphing in the Open 50m Rifle Prone final.

Sampson (247.8 points) scored a 1.2 point win over South Australians Jack Rossiter (246.6 points) and Andrew Sevelj (225.7 points).

The final also saw Rio Paralympian Anton Zappelli qualify for the final where he was placed fifth.

Tomorrow will see the finals of the men’s and women’s Skeet, the men’s and women’s Trap, the Open 10m Air Rifle, the men’s 10m Air Pistol and the women’s 25m Pistol.

Shooting Australia