Campriani hits Rio target as big names miss out

Campriani hits Rio target as big names miss out

August 09, 2016
Gold medal winner Italy's Niccolo Campriani reacts during the 10m Air Rifle Men's Finals at the Olympic Shooting Center in Rio de Janeiro Monday. — AFP
Gold medal winner Italy's Niccolo Campriani reacts during the 10m Air Rifle Men's Finals at the Olympic Shooting Center in Rio de Janeiro Monday. — AFP

World No. 1 archer Kim knocked out

Rio dream over for Irish boxing star Barnes


RIO DE JANEIRO — Italy's Niccolo Campriani credited a lucky late shot for his gold in Monday's Olympic men's 10-metre air rifle after Serihy Kulish of Ukraine made his final shot poorly, widening what had been a razor-thin gap between the two.

Kulish shot first and Campriani, a 28-year-old, three-time Olympian, paused for a breath before taking aim and firing his winning shot as the crowd cheered. It wasn't a shrewd tactical move, Campriani said.

"That was one of the biggest mistakes I've ever done, to not take the shot at the first aiming," Campriani told reporters. "That was a mistake ... let's say there was also a little bit of luck."

Campriani, who won silver at the 2012 London Games, established an Olympic record of 630.2 in the qualifying round and his competition score of 206.1 also now qualifies as an Olympic record. There had not been a comparable previous record due to a rule change.

Kulish, 23, was wide of the mark with his final shot, scoring a 204.6 in his second Olympic appearance and took silver.

Russia's Vladimir Maslennikov, 21, took bronze on his Olympic debut with a score of 184.2.

India's Abhinav Bindra, a 33-year-old who in 2008 became the only individual athlete from his nation to win gold, took fourth with 163.8 after losing a shoot-off with Kulish after the pair exited the seventh round tied.

A huge, sometimes rowdy, crowd of Indian fans packed into the gallery to cheer Bindra on, proving somewhat of a distraction to his rivals.

South Korea's world No. 1 Kim Woo-jin, meanwhile, was sent crashing out of the second round of the men's individual archery by unheralded Indonesian Riau Ega Agatha, sending shockwaves through the tournament.

Kim, who won gold in the team event Saturday and set a 72-arrow world record in the ranking round the day before, was tipped to vie with his compatriots for the individual title but succumbed to a 6-2 loss on a breezy afternoon at the Sambodromo.

Kim's exit leaves Brady Ellison, a member of the United States team that lost the title-decider to the Koreans, as the highest seed in the tournament.

Ireland's two-time Olympic bronze medalist Paddy Barnes admitted he was drained and on the verge of vomiting after he suffered a shock defeat to an underdog Spaniard Monday.

The 29-year-old Barnes, a decorated light flyweight and major medal contender, said he had few complaints after Spain's Samuel Carmona Heredia edged him on a split points decision.

False tickets

Brazilian police said Monday they had detained a director of international sports hospitality company THG and a woman employed as an interpreter at the Rio Olympics on charges of fraudulent marketing of tickets for the Games.

Police said they seized more than 1,000 tickets that were being marketed at very high prices for the first Games to be held in South America, which opened Friday.


August 09, 2016
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