South Africa's Von Zeuner Kohne secured a Rio 2016 quota place for his country by finishing 10th in the mixed 25m pistol SH1 event ©IPC Shooting/Facebook

South Africa’s Von Zeuner Kohne and Switzerland’s Paul Schnider secured their country’s first spots in next year's Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro shooting competitions, despite missing out on the mixed 25 metres pistol SH1 podium at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Shooting World Cup in Fort Benning.

Kohne and Schnider took the opportunity to achieve a quota place by finishing 10th and 11th respectively in an event won by Ukraine’s Oleksii Denysiuk.

European champion Korhan Yamac of Turkey came second, while South Korea’s Chul Park claimed bronze ahead of Russia’s Andrey Lebedinskiy.

Meanwhile,  in the women’s 10m air rifle standing Slovakia's SH1 European champion Veronica Vadovicova rarely shot below 10.0 to seal gold with a total of 203.9 points. 

Norway’s Monica Lillehagen grabbed the silver medal to ensure her first podium of the year and another Rio 2016 quota place for her country, while the United States’ Tammy Delano maintained her composure on home soil to bag the first individual World Cup medal of her career with bronze.

Ukraine's Oleksii Denysiuk took gold in the mixed 25m pistol SH1 event ahead of Turkey’s Korhan Yamac, while South Korea’s Chul Park claimed bronze
Ukraine's Oleksii Denysiuk took gold in the mixed 25 metres pistol SH1 ahead of Turkey’s Korhan Yamac, while South Korea’s Chul Park claimed bronze ©IPC Shooting/Facebook

"I’m pretty proud of how I did since I’ve been struggling with my standing position," Delano told USA Shooting.

"I just missed the quota [for Rio 2016], but I’m really happy with how the match went.

"I definitely need to control my thoughts a bit - that was the big thing in this match.

"I had more control over my thoughts and it’s been a rough year for me.

"My head was more into this one than [the most recent World Cup] in Australia.

"That was like a month after my dad passed away and that was on my mind, but this one was a bit better.

"I just need to keep going and trust the process."

Slovenia’s Franc Pinter let a comfortable lead slip to go into the final round of the men’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 level with South Korea’s Su Wan Kim, but regained his focus to come away with victory, shooting a 10.6 and 10.1 as Wan faltered with a 9.1 and 9.8.

Ukraine’s Iurii Stoiev and Great Britain’s Owen Burke claimed their country’s latest quota place for Rio 2016 with fourth and fifth place finishes respectively.

Around 180 athletes from 48 countries are competing at the World Cup, which is scheduled to take place until November 7.

Action is due to continue tomorrow with the mixed 10m air rifle standing SH2 and the women’s 50m rifle three positions SH1.


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