Zappelli’s near finals miss in Rifle Prone event

Perth Para Shooter, Anton Zappelli, was a mere 1.1 points off qualifying for the R3 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone final at the Tokyo Paralympic Games today.

Competing in his second Paralympic Games, Zappelli registered 631.6 points from his 60 targets to be eventually placed in 15th position while team-mate Natalie Smith finished in 46th position with 621.7 points.

China’s Chao Dong claimed the eighth and final position when tallying 632.7 qualifying points leaving Zappelli out of the medal race.

In a high quality qualifying round, Zappelli’s score was just 0.6 of a point off his qualifying score when he eventually claimed the R3 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone silver medal at the WSPS Championship held at Cecil Park in Sydney in 2019.

After registering 104.5 with his first series of 10 shots, Zappelli gradually built momentum with series scores of 105.7 and 106.0 before slipping with 104.8 in his fourth series.

Zappelli then finished with scores of 105.1 and 105.5 points but was unable to finish in the top eight competitors.

The R3 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone was Smith’s least favoured event and her Games is now completed after finishing 19th in the R2 10m Rifle Standing event on Monday.

Zappelli will have another chance for a medal when he contests the R6 Mixed 50m Rifle Prone event on Sunday.

Tomorrow, Bundaberg’s Chris Pitt will contest the P3 Mixed 25m Pistol event.

At the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, Pitt finished in fourth place in the event after being beaten in the bronze medal shoot-off.

Shooting Australia