General News
6 April, 2023
World Cup bronze
WOMEN’S Trap world number one Penny Smith has won bronze at the Larnaca (Cyprus) ISSF Shotgun World Cup.
WOMEN’S Trap world number one Penny Smith has won bronze at the Larnaca (Cyprus) ISSF Shotgun World Cup.
Smith finished as second top qualifier in the women’s Trap event last weekend, after shooting a score of 115 out of 125 targets in some tough conditions that seemed to worsen as she progressed through to the finals.
Smith described the Larnaca shooting range as “challenging”.
“The last couple of days was a challenge and the weather has been quite cold; the sun was in, the sun was out, it was windy and it looked like we were going to get a bit of rain…a challenging rangeto say the least,” she said.
Of her semi-finals performance that advanced her to the medal match as the top contender, Smith said she was pleased with her results.
“The semi-final was really good and I was really happy with it…the conditions were getting quite challenging but I shot a 22 (out of 25) which was quite solid,” Smith said.
She then went on to shoot a further 20 out of 25 targets in the medal match, securing the bronze with Lucy Hall from Great Britain winning her first World Cup gold medal and Cuicui Wu from China securing the silver.
The bronze medal came just three weeks after her gold medal win at the Doha, Qatar World Cup that secured her number one world ranking.
“I am really chuffed to come away with two World Cups and two medals; and world number one is something I have always dreamed to be at some stage in my shooting career and obviously world
number one after Doha is really special thing and I will treasure it for a long time,” she said.
Watching on from home in Camperdown in Victoria and speaking to both Smith’s World Cup performance and world number one accolade, mum Kim Smith said it was “a great reward for many years of hard work.”
Shooting Australia’s high-performance manager Kathryn Periac reflected on Smith’s bronze medal performance.
“Penny has been consistently strong and has had a great start to international competition in 2023,” Periac said.
“She and has an ability to maintain composure in challenging conditions while focussing on the next target.”
Smith will now enjoy some down time at home before departing for the next World Cup in Cairo, Egypt later this month.