THE shooting consists of three events which are fixed target, clay target and practical shooting. On a global scale, 30% of the shooters participate in the fixed and clay target and belong to the Olympic events, while the most popular of all is the practical shooting which, however, does not belong to them with all that this exclusion entails.
In 2023 the clay target brought countless successes under the guidance of coach Giorgos Salavantakis and Professor of Psychology Nektarios Stavrou where for the first time the qualification of three athletes for the Olympic Games in Paris was secured.
The first to qualify was Makis Mitas who was crowned World Champion in Baku, while he also won the gold medal at the World Cup in Kazakhstan.
THE Babis Chalkiadakis was crowned European Champion with a world record equaling performance of 60/60 securing his qualification for the Olympics, while the Nikos Mavrommatis won the gold medal at the World Cup in Morocco. Our skit trio won the silver medal at the World Championship and the bronze at the Pan-European.
THE Emmanuela Katzourakis she in turn won the bronze medal in the World Championship and with her success she secured qualification to the Olympics, but her presence at the World Cup and the Pan-European Championships where she received silver medals, while in the mixed skeet with Yannis Gogolakis they won the bronze medal.
Finally o Panagiotis Gerochristou was crowned at the Pan-European Junior European Champion completing a dream year for the clay target since there was no major event where a Greek shooter did not climb the podium.
To fixed target his two athletes stood out with their performances Tasos Korakakisof the coach who brought shooting out of obscurity and paved the way for great success.
THE Anna Korakaki took two silver medals at the World Championships in Baku in the 10m air pistol and the 25m standard air pistol. This was her fifth consecutive medal in four world championship events, a feat that places her in the Pantheon of fixed target shooting and at such a young age she is already one of the legends of the competition. Of course, with such performances, it would be impossible for him to miss the Olympic games in Paris, where for the third time in a row he will try, as always, for the best.
THE Christina Moschi, the girl-prodigy with performances in juniors that the best women are jealous of, achieved something admirable in the 10m air pistol, after taking fourth place in the Pan-European and at the same time qualifying for the Olympic Games despite the weight of her studies at the Medical School. It is the first time that we will have the joy and pride of having two athletes in the same event at the Olympics and we hope for the best possible attendance.
The third shooting event is called practice. It is the most dynamic and spectacular since the athletes, in addition to their shooting ability, are required to have speed, strength, flexibility, fast reloads, speed and quick thinking in order to choose the most correct tactics so that in a limited field they can succeed with their weapon in the least possible time to achieve all objectives. The practice involves four weapons which are: pistol, smoothbore rifle (carbine), rifled rifle and PCC rifle, and each weapon has different categories.
2023 was the year of the Snow Canoe World Championship in Thailand where our National team in the Modified category had the greatest distinction ever achieved in the sport.
Specifically, the three leading Greeks, the Michalis Chatzigiannis who came third winning the bronze medal in the overall, o Yannis Topalidis who took the bronze in the senior and the seventh in the overall and o George Philippou who took eighth place, with the participation of John Karman who took 29th place managed to take the silver medal, behind the Finns and beating the hosts Thailand who took third place and leaving traditional powers such as Italy, the Czech Republic and the USA off the podium.
This result was the culmination of the work of the three Greeks who in the last two years have taken part in all the major Grand Prix of Europe and have returned with medals hanging on their chests. His presence was remarkable Dimitris Kandilis which in the Standard Manual category was ranked 24th.
The next big event in leiocano will take place at the renovated shooting range of Corinth, where in 2026 it will host the World Championship. In the same shooting range, last September, the Pan-European pistol championship was held with great success, in which more than 1500 shooters participated, a fact that highlights the importance of the event as well as the economic support of the region by athletes and visitors.
The hope of the athletes is that the Shooting Federation of Greece will understand the importance that practice now has in the sport of shooting and find ways to strengthen the funding and promotion of the sport.
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
