Sharp Shooter Ahrens off to Rio 2016

Namibian shooting ace Gaby Ahrens booked herself a ticket to next year’s Summer Olympic Games in Brazil’s metropolis Rio de Janeiro after winning the African Championships in the Olympic Trap discipline on Monday afternoon in Egypt.
Ahrens beat Mariem Rammah of Morocco with 15:10 in an intense final in the capital Cairo. The final initially swung Rammah’s way as Ahrens missed the first three targets, opposed to two missed shots by Rammah.
Showing strong character, the Namibian got back into the game as she hit all of the remaining clay pigeons while the Moroccan missed at several occasions to give Ahrens her second continental crown after 2011.
“I prepared for this event all year. I worked hard and achieved my goal. This makes me happy. Now my focus shifts to the Olympic games”, the new Champion explained before taking time to thank her coaching team, especially her Father Hasso Ahrens, as well as the Namibian National Olympic Committee for their continued support.
Things didn’t start off well for Ahrens though. The jury in North Africa ordered six ammo rounds for testing, causing stress for Ahrens as she feared she wouldn’t have enough ammunition for the actual qualification round.
Her stress was evident during the first qualification round where she only managed 17 hits. But this proved to be fluke. With 21 hits during round two as well as 22 during the third and final round, Ahrens accumulated a total of 60 hits to move into the semi-final on fourth place.
She then scored a fantastic 12/15, the best semi-final score of the day, to book her place in the final.