Andreas Pontikis won gold in the men's solo skeet event at the European Under-23 Championships, taking place in the Polish city of Wroclaw.
The Cypriot shooter was in impressive form throughout the competition. After a winning run through the qualifying rounds, he advanced to the quarter-finals, where he beat Britain's Worrall 7-3 to secure his place in the semi-finals. There, Pontikis faced Bulgaria's Ilia Iliev, defeating him by the same 7-3 scoreline to reach the final.
Pontikis gave his opponent, Slovakia's Martin Horvath, no room to compete. He won the final 6-0, claiming gold in dominant fashion, while the Slovak shooter took silver. Lithuania's Tomas Vaitekūnas and Bulgaria's Ilia Iliev shared bronze. Two other Cypriot shooters, Markos Kontopoulos and Stylianos Pericleous, also competed but were eliminated in the qualifying rounds.
Federation congratulates the winner
The president and board members of the Cyprus Shooting Federation congratulated solo gold medallist Andreas Pontikis and his skeet coach, Michalis Katzianis, on the result. The federation also praised fellow shooters Markos Kontopoulos and Stylianos Pericleous for their efforts in the competition.
