USA's Olympic Champ Hancock scores a perfect match to close the first ISSF World Cup of the season

Today’s Skeet Men Finals concluded the 2015 ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Acapulco, Mexico, the first step of this year’s ISSF World Cup Series. More than 300 athletes coming from 54 countries competed there from the 2nd through the 9th of March, trying to secure one of the 10 Rio 2016 Olympic Quota Places distributed by the ISSF.

It was USA's Vincent Hancock, a two-time Olympic Champion, who won the last match, the Skeet Men Finals, today. And he did it in the best possible way: shuttering all targets in the qualifications (when he equalled the world record of 125 hits), then in the semi-final and finally in the Gold medal match, leaving no chances to his opponents.

"It's exactly what I wanted." Hancock said, displaying self confidence after hitting 157 targets straight without a single miss. "This World Cup was the first stepping stone to get to the next Olympic Gold medal."

The United States of America dominated the first ISSF World Cup Stage of the year, finishing atop of the Medal Standings with 4 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze medals out of 5 events.

Ten Olympic Quota Places, the qualification slots for Rio 2016, were assigned by the ISSF. The US and the Italian teams collected 3 quotas spots each, while Australia and the People’s Republic of China pocketed two each.

"It has been a wonderful competition!" The ISSF President, Olegario Vazquez Raña said, at the end of the last event. "We have to thank the Organizing Committee of this event and its President Jorge Peña Soberanis for making it possible. Acapulco’s shooting range has been renewed for this event and everything run perfectly, as the today's high scores have proved."

The ISSF Secretary General Franz Schreiber said: "The results have been tremendous, and the atmosphere here in Acapulco has been great. We are very happy to see that the changes in the finals’ formats that we’ve introduced after London 2012 are working well and improved the presentation of our sport."

The ISSF World Cup Series moves now on to Al Ain (UAE), where the second ISSF Shotgun World Cup Stage of the season will be held starting form the 19th of March. The first medal match, the Trap Women Finals, will take place on the 21st of March.

Follow the next events live at http://www.issf-sports.org/.

For more information, please contact:

Marco DALLA DEA

ISSF Communication Manager

marco@issf-sports.org

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