Gabriele Rossetti celebrates with gold medal.

Gabriele Rossetti celebrates with gold medal.

On his 28th birthday Gabriele Rossetti treated himself to a gold medal in the Men’s Skeet at the ISSF World Cup being held in Doha. Two bronze medals also entered the Italian coffer at the hands of Luigi Agostino Lodde and Simona Scocchetti.

The Ponte Buggianese policeman, Olympic Champion in Rio 2016, had to keep his concentration at the highest level until the last clay pigeon of the final in order to get the better of the U.S. Vincent Hancock, three-time Olympic Champion in Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Tokyo 2020.

The Italian finished the qualification with the excellent score of 124/125 +7, which gave him the number four dorsal behind Hancopck, perfect with 125/125, Egypt’s Azmy Mehelba, second with 124/125 +14, and Italy’s Luigi Lodde, third with 124/125 +13. It was these four fantastic shooters who dueled in the very final for the medals.

The first to have to give up arms was the Egyptian, fourth with 19/20, followed then by our Lodde (Esercito) from Ozieri, third on the podium for bronze with 27/30, while Rossetti and Hancock continued the confrontation with another “round” of the platform. Rossetti, strong with a one-plate lead, held his ground and did not let the American catch up with him, finishing in first place with an excellent 39/40 to 38/40.