World Shooting Championships November 3 finals: Karapetyan wins silver

Elmira Karapetyan took women’s 50m pistol silver for Armenia at the World Shooting Championships in Doha, Qatar, on 3 November. Turkey’s Şevval İlayda Tarhan won gold with 546 points, four ahead of Karapetyan, and Kazakhstan’s Irina Yunusmetova took bronze with 537.

Karapetyan finished second among 17 competitors over six series. Her final three series produced 93, 94 and 95 points. The event is not on the Olympic program, so her medal did not carry an Olympic qualification place.

Karapetyan previously competed in women’s 10m air pistol at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Tarhan won mixed-team silver with Yusuf Dikeç at the 2023 World Championships and with him again in 10m air pistol at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Air rifle champions and Olympic places

South Korea’s Ban and China’s Sheng won the women’s and men’s 10m air rifle finals, respectively. Both were Olympic champions in Paris; Sheng had also won individual silver at the 2020 Olympics and mixed-team gold in Paris with Huang Yuting.

China received a quota in each event; South Korea and France received the other women’s places, and Croatia and Slovakia the other men’s places.

A country can earn only one quota per individual event at a single World Championships, and the places belong to national Olympic committees, not individual shooters. Sportaran said the rule meant France’s Océanne Muller secured a place after finishing fourth in the women’s final, while Patrik Jány secured Slovakia’s after finishing sixth in the men’s final.

Armenia’s Artyom Grigoryan finished 20th in men’s qualification with 629.5 points, missing the eight-shooter final and an Olympic quota. He was 2.7 points below the 632.2-point cutoff.

The remaining qualification schedule

The ISSF scheduled the championships for 1–14 November 2026, with 36 Olympic places available across 12 individual events, three per event. After the air rifle finals, 30 places remained.

The ISSF schedule assigns three places to each of those events. Later opportunities include the 2027 World Championships in Daegu and Cairo, selected World Cups, continental championships and the Olympic Ranking system. Qualification ends 1 May 2028; athletes must also achieve the required minimum qualification score during the qualification period to be eligible for the Games.