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Agonizingly close in mixed quarterfinal

 

Agonizingly close in mixed quarterfinal

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AOC
Agonizingly close in mixed quarterfinal
SHOOTING: Elise Downing has bowed out of the shooting at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) but not without an intense fight.

SHOOTING: Elise Downing has bowed out of the shooting at the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) but not without an intense fight.

Yesterday, Downing made it to the quarterfinal of the 10m Air Pistol mixed international event with Bulgarian teammate, Aleksander Todorov.

“My heart was racing, it was extremely intense, I can’t believe we were so close to winning,” she said.

In the quarterfinals of the mixed event, pairs must shoot off against another international mixed team. The team that has the highest combined score after each shot is rewarded a point, the first team to 10 points is victorious.

Downing and Todorov missed out on a few points in the beginning and at one point they were down by three points. Downing and Todorov fought back by winning consecutive points.

The match went back and forth and before long it was all tied up at 9-9, the winner would be decided by the final shot.

Though Downing and Todorov shot a respectable score, it wasn’t quite enough, they missed out on the win by 0.2 points. Xiu Yi Teh of Singapore and Ahmed Mohamed from Egypt took out the match and progressed to the semi-finals.

“At 9-9 that last shot really counted towards getting into the semi-finals. It would have been good to get in, but I reckon my partner and I did really well,” the Queenslander said.

“I reckon this has been the most fun, I really enjoyed this and it really gets the spectators going.”

Now that Downing has finished shooting at the YOG, she now has the chance to reflect on an incredible experience.

“Over all my YOG experience has been fantastic, my performances have been alright, this one being one of the best. I’m definitely happy.”

Three generations of her family have travelled to Nanjing to support Downing, her father Michael explains what it’s been like.

“Initially I thought it might put her off having the pressure of the family behind her, but she’s actually got used to us over the last couple of years,” he said.

On her performance...”Impressive, especially today. You can’t expect them to shoot above average, but today she did.”

“We all felt it, my heart was in my throat waiting for that last shot and to pull out a 10.2 was great, it’s a shame we didn’t quite make it,” Michael said.

“It’s great that they all could come out, I can’t believe they’re all here, it’s awesome,” the teen said.

As for the entire shooting team, both Downing and Summerell have completed their shooting at the YOG, however Clopatofsky and Woodhouse will compete in the 10m Air Rifle mixed international later today.

Results to come...

Sam Rawlings
Olympics.com.au
@AUSOlympicTeam

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