WITH two straight perfect scores of 25 points, trap shooter Hagen Topacio found himself in distinguished company at the top after two rounds of the ISSF Final Olympic Qualification Shotgun competitions at the Lusail Shooting Range in Doha, Qatar last Sunday.
Bidding to be the country’s latest athlete to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games, Topacio shared first place with five others, among them 2012 London Olympic silver medalist Massimo Fabrizi of Italy, two-time American World Cup champion William Hinton and Tokyo Olympian Yu Haicheng of China.
Slovenia’s Macek Bostjan and Ali Huseynli of Azerbaijan also had scores of 50 points each in the event where the top two finishers will secure outright spots in Paris.
They will continue action in three more qualifying rounds, with the third one scheduled yesterday.
“This the first time in history that a Filipino shooter is leading a World Cup event. I pray that Hagen will sustain his form and, hopefully, go all the way,” said former national shotgun shooter Raul Arambulo, who has been keenly following the career of Topacio.
Beijing Olympic Games veteran Eric Ang shot rounds of 22 and 23 and was all alone in 99th place.
After the completion of the five-round qualifying, the top eight finalists advance to the championship round.
A silver medalist in the men’s trap event of the 31st Vietnam Southeast Asian Games in 2021, Topacio was deprived of an opportunity to represent the country in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago after placing second in the Asian Shotgun Shooting Championships in Kuwait in 2018.
Had things been in order, his runner-up spot would have secured him an Olympic slot, but the International Shooting Sport Federation voided the results after the Kuwaiti hosts barred a technical official from Israel from entering the country.
Despite the setback, Topacio, 34, has not given up on his Olympic dream and continues to shoot for flag and country, sometimes at his own expense, and hopefully will finally realize that aspiration later today.
The last Pinoy shooter to compete in the Olympics was skeet exponent Brian Rosario in the 2012 London Summer Games.
