Australian pistol shooter Lalita Yauhleuskaya (Berwick, VIC) has finished fifth in the women’s 10m air pistol final this afternoon on Day 1 of the 2012 London World Cup in Woolwich.
Australian pistol shooter Lalita Yauhleuskaya (Berwick, VIC) has finished fifth in the women’s 10m air pistol final this afternoon on Day 1 of the 2012 London World Cup in Woolwich.
With the World Cup also serving as the official test event for shooting for the 2012 London Olympic Games, Yauhleuskaya’s form at the Royal Artillery Barracks will be seen as a positive ahead of the remainder of the year.
Yauhleuskaya qualified for the final in second position after scoring a total of 387 from 400 across her 40 shots.
In the 10 shot final the 48-year-old endured a slow start before making a late rally to shoot a total of 98, leaving her 2.6 points away from the bronze medal.
Yauhleuskaya said she was looking to improve on her performance.
“I am disappointed but I have two more World Cups before the Olympics to improve on a few things,” Yauhleuskaya said. “I struggled with the cold weather and hopefully it is warmer next time.”
The world number three-ranked shooter seems destined to compete at her fifth Olympic Games later this year in London and will lead Australia’s charge in the pistol events.
Yauhleuskaya, who competed at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games for her former country Belarus, gained Australian citizenship shortly after her bronze medal in the women’s sport pistol in Sydney 2000.
Since her bronze in Sydney, the Victorian based shooter won back-to-back gold medals at the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games in both the 10m air pistol and sport pistol events, while she claimed a silver medal in the women’s 10m air pistol at the 2010 World Shooting Championships in Munich, Germany.
Fellow Australians Dina Aspandiyarova (Cranbourne North, VIC) and Emily Esposito (Casula, NSW) finished in 21st and 78th positions respectively on scores of 382 and 362.
In other events on Day 1 of the competition Keith Ferguson (Sale, VIC) and Clive Barton (Tamworth, NSW) are lying 63rd and 80th after two rounds of the men’s skeet, with one round to be contested tomorrow, before the final two rounds are shot on Saturday.
In the women’s skeet Lauryn Mark (Hoppers Crossing, VIC) and Laura Coles (Busselton, WA) shot scores of 18 and 17 in the first round of the women’s skeet, with the final two rounds to be held tomorrow.
Australian International Shooting Ltd