Doron Shaziri. Photo: screenshot from YouTube.

JNS.org – Israeli shooter Doron Shaziri won a bronze medal in the 50-meter rifle three-positions competition at the Rio 2016 Paralympics on Monday.

Shaziri, 49, completed both the preliminary and final rounds of the competition in third place, finishing with 437.5 points to earn the eighth Paralympic medal of his career.

After the competition, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Shaziri:

Congratulations, Doron, you got a direct hit! It’s the eighth medal, so you are consistently successful, and I am glad the old pros are proving they’ve still got it, and of course the young people are proving themselves, too. You moved me, you moved the people of Israel and thank you so much for making us proud. Send my regards to our wonderful delegation. Keep up the success.

Shaziri lost part of his leg in 1987, while serving as a sniper with the Golani Brigade. Two years into his military service, he stepped on a land mine in Lebanon, and the blast tore off his leg from the knee down. Following an honorable discharge from the military and extensive rehabilitation, Shaziri decided to invest all of his energy in shooting.

He soon became one of the most prominent athletes with disabilities in Israeli sports history.

Shaziri has competed in the Paralympic Games since 1996. He has four silver medals, two from the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, one from the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and another from the 2012 London games. He won a bronze medal in Sydney in 2000, two at the 2004 Athens Paralympics and, now, his fourth in Rio.

This is the second medal for the Israeli Paralympic delegation, following rower Moran Samuel’s bronze medal in the 1,000 meter race on Sunday.