Diana Mata, a dominant Dynasty over 60 years in the Sport of ‘Eye and Finger’!

Diana Mata
National Albanian Champion shooter who holds the tittles:
“Merited Master of Sports” and “Grand Master”!

Mata was born in Tirana on August 30, 1960 and the Mata family is a symbol of Albanian shooting, for which it naturally deserves special respect. A dominant dynasty of over 60 years in this sport. She is the longest living quality athlete, a story of almost 33 years, starting from the tender age of 16, in 1976. A success story of medals!

Diana has selected of more than 50 medals, including 13 gold ones, she has also experienced the emotions of the competition, not as a high-level athlete, but as a coach of the European champion, Lindita Kodra, the fourth Albanian shooter who was able to bring a gold medal from a European championship after 24 years from the last one of Ermira Dingu.

The “World Master ” seems to find it easier to shoot in tenths, claiming that her eloquence in speech is far behind what she does in the line of fire.

Diana, the 18-time champion of Albania, grew up in a family of shooters, moreover, she had her father Ali Mata as a coach. In Shooting, as in any sport, the psychological factor is an element that if you do not possess, you cannot achieve high results. Diane did not miss this, she is even known for it, everything in her skills as a professional shooter was programmed down to the last detail.

In addition to a good eye, shooting also requires high physical preparation. so she has had to do barbells, and run kilometers, which have helped her to compete at a high level for a period of almost over 30 years.

There are no individual medals in the European or World arena, in such championships.

In the World Championships, in the edition of v. 1986 held in Suhl (Eastern Germany), the Albanian team composed of Diana Mata; Emanuela Delilaj; and Shyti won the bronze medal by taking the third place in the 25m Standard Pistol competition and accumulating 1745 points!

Diane’s first race was the one in the European championship in Italy, in 1977 when she was 17 years old. Her opponents were Germans and Russians athletes, the strongest in this sport. The race is won by Marliese Karnthak (GDR). Mata is not successful; she is positioned in the 9th place, and it is precisely this moment that decided her to work harder to get better results.

With the Albanian National Team, she has always been part of the trio. In a world championship, Mata was awarded with the highest title “World Shooting Master”. While the Albanian Team was ranked third in the world!

Meanwhile, in the national competitions, Diana Mata is almost absolute. It becomes the champion of the country 18 times, remaining one or two points away from the records. In Albania, her record of 592 points has not yet been broken.

Diana, for the first time, participated twice in the Olympic Games, in “Atlanta 1996” together with Enkelejda Shehu, as well as in “Sydney 2000” in Australia. In Australia, “Sydney 2000” ranks tenth in these games.

The last competition for her was the 2006 National Championship when she was 46 years old, where she won the 18-th champion tittle!

Throughout her career, Diana Mata has collected over 50 medals, 13 gold, 21 silver and 9 bronze, and an infinite number of medals in national activities. Diana has been announced ten times among the “10 best athletes”, a prestigious survey organized by the sports newspaper “Sporti Popullor”, today “Sporti Albanian”.

She is also a two-time Balkan champion, even in 1991 where she broke the Balkan record in the air pistol competition.

The latest information about the shooting is November 2, 2009

Published for the first time on Facebook page on August 4, 2014!

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Sports Vision Plus / Champions Hour in activity since 2013