Swede Hakan Dahlbi wins World Cup double trap championship in Minsk

The Minsk-hosted World Cup clay target shooting tournament has been there to witness its first champion - Hakan Dahlbi of Sweden, who showed the best result in the double trap contest. After the preliminary round there were six shooters to qualify for the finals. It came as a shock that 2008 Olympics gold winner and Olympic record holder Walton Eller should fail to qualify for the finals. The best result in the qualification round was shown by Hakan Dahlbi, who was fast and precise enough to hit 144 of 150 targets. Russia's Vasili Mosin made just one miss more with 143 points. The final round saw HU Binyuan (China, 2008 Olympics bronze medalist) with 140 points, Hungary's Roland GEREBICS (139), Beijing Olympic silver holder Francesco D'ANIELLO (139) and Russia's Mikhail Leybo (138). In the final round the Swede hit 47 of 50 targets, winning the World Cup trophy with 191 points. Competing for the second prize was Vasili Mosin and Binyuan Hu, as they produced the same results after the final round (188 points each). During the extra-time shootout the Chinese sniper was luckier than the Russian, who received the third prize. Italy's Francesco D'ANIELLO came in fourth. The new World Cup holder Hakan Dahlbi spoke in a fairly positive key about the preparation of the tournament and the overall environment at the shooting range. "Your shooting range is a better place than Beijing, where targets would fly in a totally unpredictable way", the Swede said. On Monday and Tuesday, the World Cup finals will feature men's and women's trap and skeet events. The tournament is held under the auspices of the Belarusian Clay Target Shooting Federation. The World Cup clay target shooting finals are hosted by the Minsk-based Sporting Club at 193, Nezavisimiski Avenue, Building 2. The entrance to all sporting events is free for spectators.