Rašmane and Vasermanis win silver at shooting World Cup in Cairo

Latvian athletes Agate Rašmane and Emīls Vasermanis won silver medals on 10 October at a shooting World Cup stage in Cairo, Egypt. The event is organised by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), and the Latvian pair competed in the mixed team 10-metre air pistol event. In the final they missed out on gold by only 0.5 points.

Strong qualification

In qualification, the Latvian duo posted the best result among 28 entered teams. They scored 582 points in total with 27 inner tens. Vasermanis shot 295 points (100, 98 and 97) with 16 inner tens, while Rašmane scored 287 points (94, 96 and 97) with 11 inner tens.

Ukraine's pair, Olena Kostevych and Pavlo Korostylov, placed second in qualification with 580 points. Britain's Charlotte Hicks and James Miller were third with 579, and France's Camille Jedrzejewski and Théo Mocko fourth with 578.

A tense final

The four best qualifying teams contested the final. After the first ten shots the Latvians led with 98.7 points, and they kept the lead after 20 shots with 197.4. After 30 shots Ukraine moved ahead, but the Latvians later regained ground and fought France for gold.

Before the last series France led with 419.0 points and Latvia followed with 417.6. In the closing series the Latvians scored higher, with Vasermanis hitting 10.9 with his final shot, but it was not enough. France won with 479.5 points, while the Latvian pair, coached by Vilnis Celmiņš and Zigfrīds Markainis, took silver with 479.0. Ukraine claimed bronze with 413.4 points, and Great Britain finished fourth with 351.9.

The World Cup in Cairo continues until 16 October.