The Kazakh women’s trap shooting team with Anastassiya Davydova, Maria Dmitrienko and Oxana Sereda stepped on the highest step of the podium Sept. 22 to celebrate the fourth gold for the country at the 17th Asian games. Andrei Mogilevsky won bronze to add to the total medal count as Kazakhstan slipped by China and North Korea, the heavy favourites in this discipline.
“Before going to the [Asia Games] we were hoping to win at least one gold[medal] and one bronze,” director of the Olympic Preparatory Centre for Shooting Disciplines Oleg Pochivalov said in an interview with The Astana Times.
“And we have already executed our plan, as the games are still on and we have more medals to vie for in this discipline.”
In total, there are 12 medals in this discipline at the Asian Games and five in the Olympic Games.
“This victory is the result of a clear vision of former Minister of Sports and Tourism Temirkhan Dosmukhambetov, who launched the Olympic Preparatory Centre in 2007. The proper financing (of the sport)in the past four years, procurement of modern arms and weapons and proper training outreaches – all these efforts are finally paying off. One needs to understand this, especially taking into account that our national team is the youngest one in the Asian region,” Pochivalov added.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Kazakhstan’s Angelina Mischuk was ousted by one target and didn’t reach the final, finishing ninth.
