Rooney off target in Russia
Kiwi trap shooter Natalie Rooney missed her target of making the final of ISSF Shotgun World Championship in Moscow.
Rooney finished the event ranked 17th from the 67 shooters, after she only hit 67 of the 75 targets during qualifying.
The 29-year-old was four targets shy of what was needed to progress to the six shooter final. The 2016 Rio Olympics silver medallist shot 22, 22 and 23 in her three rounds of qualifying.
Italian Jessica Rossi won the title from Australian Catherine Skinner in a tight contest.
The 2012 Olympic champion Rossi scored 43 hits out of 50 targets in the final to beat 2016 Olympic champion Skinner by two hits
Slovakian Zuzana Rehak Stefecekova was third, beating out the defending champion, Spain’s Fatima Galvez, for the final spot on the podium.
Rossi was delighted with her win
‘‘Something clicked when I won the new mixed team event competition - along with my teammate Giovanni Pellielo - at the European Championship in Baku in July. That victory was a game changer, and gave me the right motivation.
‘‘It has been a tough final. I’ve been duelling with the reigning Olympic champion since the first shot, and right to the end of the match. I won’t lie, I came here to climb on the podium, and I climbed it to the top, it couldn’t be better.’’
The win qualified Rossi for the World Cup final for the first time since 2013.