The 2021 Compete Together pistol series of events concluded over the weekend. The three round series of pistol postal competitions was held during October to December, and concluded with two days of finals.
This friendly competition enabled and encouraged competitors of all abilities including High Performance Athletes and Development Squad Athletes. Athletes had the opportunity to compete remotely from the convenience of their home club/range in any state within Australia. There was a strong emphasis on inclusivity, encouraging participation from able bodied and para athletes as well as men, women and junior competitors.
There were over 50 entries in the series including competitors from VIC, ACT, NSW, QLD, NT, WA and SA.
The Womens Air Pistol and Mens Air Pistol finals took place on Saturday 4th December. Tokyo Olympian Elena Galiabovitch took leadership from the first series of the Womens Air Pistol, holding onto this until the end of the final. Second place was taken by another Tokyo Olympian Dina Aspandiyarova who finished the final with two excellent shots. Ellie Rudder won third prize with a string of 10’s in the middle of Final. Janelle Tanzer competed from her local club in Queensland and came in 4th place.
The Men’s Air final Final saw a very competitive final with athletes competing from WA, VIC, SA and QLD. In the last two series of 2 shots Bailey Groves overtook Scott Anderson to win the final. Matt Sydes competing in Brisbane finished third. Tyson Hughes, Bruce Quick, Mike Giustiniano and Alamdar Dastani claimed the final places from 4th to 7th respectively.
Onto day two of the finals on Sunday 5th December and first up was the Womens 25m Sport Pistol Final. We had two competitors in the final; Elena Galiabovitch and Mattie Tadaprasit. Elena’s experience shone with a personal best of 37 hits to win. Mattie enjoyed competing with Elena and had great support from the members of the Campbelltown Liverpool District Pistol Club.
The last final of the weekend was for 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event Four best. Four of Australia’s best pistol athletes contested the final; Sergei Evglevski, Thomas Ashmore, Scott Anderson and Bailey Groves fought hard. All finalists fought hard with Thomas Ashmore performing at his best to claim the win. Bailey and Sergei placed 2nd and 3rd respectively, with Scott finishing in fourth place.
Pistol National Coach Vladimir Galiabovitch expressed his gratitude to the volunteers who supported the athletes during this years Compete Together competition. “Without the dedication of time and effort injected by the volunteers, competitions like these would not be possible. For that both the athletes and the team at Shooting Australia is extremely thankful and appreciative.”
Shooting Australia also extends a thank you to the generosity of John Accardo and the team at Hoyts Foods for donating Christmas hampers as prizes for this competition. “This support from within the pistol shooting community is amazing and we hope to be able to continue this competition into 2022 and make it even bigger and better” Vladimir noted.
With this now being the end of the pistol competition program for 2021, the team at Shooting Australia wishes all competitors, the tremendous volunteers and their families and friends a very Merry Christmas and safe, happy and healthy New Year.
To view the the final results from the Pistol Compete Together Series click here.
