ISSF Rifle And Pistol World Cup Final Kicks-Off In Munich. Zhang And Mcphail Claim Titles

The men’s 50m Pistol and 50m Rifle Prone event opened the 2015 ISSF World Cup Final in Munich, Germany, where the best shooters of the world are competing from the 2nd through the 7th of September to secure this year’s ISSF World Cup Titles.

The 2015 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup Final kicked-off in Munich, Germany. The best 85 rifle and pistol shooters of the world, selected throughout this year’s four ISSF World Cup Stages in Changwon (KOR), Fort Benning (USA), Munich (GER) and Gabala (AZE), arrived here to challenge the title defenders and the 2014 World Champions, aiming at the 2015 World Cup title.

Russian Trap champion Alipov claims the last gold of the ISSF World Cup in Gabala photo credit: ISSF

The event takes place at the 1972 Olympic shooting range of Munich from the 2nd through the 7th of September, in combination with the German Shooting Championship, one of the largest shooting competitions of the world which sees over 8 thousands athletes from all over the country competing in Olympic and non Olympic shooting events in ten days.

Zhang Bowen of the People’s Republic of China (19) won the first Gold medal of the Final, finishing atop of the men’s 50m Pistol event, today. Zhang, the youngest finalist, shot a consistent match, leaving behind him Olympic and world champions, to win his first world cup final in career.

With 192.6 points, the Chinese athlete beat Vietnam’s Xuan Vinh Hoang (40), who finished in second place with 189.3 points after closing his match with three frustrating shots in the seventh ring (7.8, 7.5, 7.9). Nevertheless, Hoang won the applauses of the spectators. Travelling from Vietnam to Germany, his baggage was delayed and the Vietnamese shooter did not receive his pistol in time for the competition. As extrema ratio solution, the 40-year old athlete shot the match with a new, out-of-the-box pistol, without custom grip and adjustments. A remarkable achievement in today’s shooting sport world, where every single piece of equipment is usually fine-tuned and customized to the last screw.

Hoang also managed to keep behind himself the title defender, the winner of the 2014 ISSF World Cup Final Wang Zhiwei (27) of the People’s Republic of China, who placed in third with 173.6 points after a close duel against his teammate Mai Jiajie (28).

World’s #1 Michael Mcphail of USA (33) claimed Gold at the following 50m Rifle Prone Men final, securing the world cup title with 208.5 points and 1 point of advantage on Russia’s Kirill Grigoryan (23), second with 207.5 points.

The US athlete closed the ISSF season in the best possible way after winning two world cup stages in Munich and Fort Benning, and collected his very first world cup title sealing his leadership atop of the world ranking.

ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup Final kicks-off in Munich. Zhang (CHN) and Mcphail (USA) claim the first two titles

“I am very happy with how the season turned out,” Mcphail said. “In the past years I have shot both the 50m Rifle 3 Positions and the 50m Prone Men events, and it takes so much time to train in a proper way. This season I just shot Prone, and it’s much easier.”

“I am going to take a month off now. We have a son who’s due in the end of October, my second one, I am very excited!” Mcphail added, speaking after the award ceremony.

Following Mcphail and Grigoryan, Croatia’s Bojan Durkovic (25) pocketed today’s Bronze medal with 186.5 points, leaving Australia’s 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Warren Potent (53) in fourth place with 165.7 points.

The 2015 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup Final in Munich will continue tomorrow with the women’s 25m Pistol and the men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol finals, due at 16.45 and 18.00 (GMT+2).

All finals will be broadcasted live on http://www.issf-sports.org

Germany’s Link Seals Home Victory On The Last Competition Day Of The ISSF World Cup In Munich

The sixth ISSF World Cup Stage of the season was held in Munich, Germany, from the 27th of May through the 1st of June.

The season’s sixth ISSF World Cup stage just closed in Munich, Germany, where a record-breaking number of 901 participating athletes coming from 87 countries competed in the 10 Olympic Rifle and Pistol events from the 27th of May through the 1st of June.

Gaining three gold medals, the People’s Republic of China came atop the competition’s medal standings – Zhu Qinan, Zhang Jingjing, and Yi Siling were the athletes who contributed to their country’s success

Germany took the competition’s last gold medal, as Andre Link won today’s Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions final against Yang Haoran of China. Link (458.7 points) held on to first place and closed with a 1.7-point lead on Yang, 19, who set a Final Junior World Record (457.0 points). The 20-year-old Link also won an Olympic quota, and so did Alexis Raynaud of France.

Gold medalist Andre LINK of Germany competes in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men Finals at the Olympic Shooting Range Munich/Hochbrueck during Day 5 of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol on June 1, 2015 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by ISSF Photographers)

Earlier today, Antoaneta Boneva of Belarus won the Women’s 10m Air Pistol as she beat Serbia’s Bobana Velickovic with a 2.4-point lead. Boneva (200.6 points) had won a gold medal just two weeks ago at the Fort Benning World Cup. USA’s Lydia Paterson, Serbia’s Bobana Velickovic, and China’s Guo Wenjun took Olympic quota places for this event.

The competition had started last Thursday, May 28th, when China’s Zhu Qinan, a two-time Olympic Medalist, won the Men’s 10m Air Rifle gold, the season’s second World Cup medal for Zhu, who had won bronze last April in Changwon, Korea. The Chinese athlete (206.0 points) closed on a mere 0.3 points ahead of Russia’s Vladimir Maslennikov, the silver medallist. As Zhu already had one, Olympic quotas went to Ukraine, India, and Serbia, thanks, respectively, to Oleh Tsarkov (whose 184.2 points earned him a bronze medal), Abhinav Bindra (6th, 122.4 points), and Stevan Pletikosic (7th, 99.1 points).

Later on the same day, another Chinese athlete won the women’s event. China’s Yi Siling (209.8 points), a London 2012 Olympic Gold medallist, came in first in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle final with a 2.5 point lead on Croatia’s Valentina Gustin. Chen Dongqi, Yi’s teammate, came in third. Silver medallist Gustin also gained one of the three Olympic quotas for this event; the rest went to Austria’s Olivia Hofmann (5th, 143.7 points), and Germany’s Nina Laura Kreutzer (6th, 121.3 points).

Gaining the first of two gold medals in the competition – after eight years without winning one – Joao Costa came atop the Men’s 50m Pistol podium on the 29th of May. Costa (194.7 points) beat China’s Zhang Bowen, the silver medalist, and won the first World Cup gold after he had last got one in Munich in 2007. Two days later, Costa went on to win the Men’s 10m Air Pistol too. Tomoyuki Matsuda, the bronze medallist, came away with an Olympic quota for Japan. Italy’s Giuseppe Giordano (5th, 129.9 points) also gained a ticket to Rio.

Gold medalist Jingjing ZHANG of the Peoples Republic of China competes in the 25m Pistol Women Finals at the Olympic Shooting Range Munich/Hochbrueck during Day 2 of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol on May 29, 2015 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by ISSF Photographers)

The same day, China’s Zhang Jingjing, the reigning World Champion, gave her country the third gold in two competition days as she won the Women’s 25m Pistol. Zhang made the final with a score of 19, and eventually beat Tanyaporn Prucksakorn in the gold medal match (7 to 1 hits). Prucksakorn of Thailand, and bronze medalist Yuliya Alipova of Russia won Olympic quotas for their countries.

On the 30th of May, the World Cup Stage continued with Michael Mcphail of the USA winning his second consecutive gold of the season at the Men’s 50m Rifle Prone. Mcphail (209.1 points) beat France’s Cyrll Graff and came in first, after he had already won the same event at the previous World Cup stage in Fort Benning. Vitali Bubnovich of Belarus took bronze. Silver medalist Graff and Stefan Raser (4th, 166.6 points) won Olympic quotas for France and Austria.

Day-3 also saw Christian Reitz of host country Germany winning the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol as he beat USA’s Keith Sanderson. Reitz (32 hits) close in first with a 6-hit lead on Sanderson, the silver medalist, and 10 hits more than Russia’s Alexei Klimov, who came in third.
Sanderson and Klimov took the event’s two Olympic quotas.

Germany gained another gold in the next event, yesterday, May 31st, as Barbara Engleder easily won the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions. Engleder (461.5 points) held a 6.5-point lead on runner up Yoo Seo Young of Korea. China’s Yi Siling won her competition’s second medal as came in third.Yoo of the Republic of Korea, and Ukraine’s Natallia Kalnysh gained Olympic quotas for their countries.

Portugal’s Joao Costa came back atop of the ISSF podium the same day, as he took over the Men’s 10m Air Pistol. Costa (201.4 points) beat Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsuda, the silver medallist, after he had claimed the gold in the men’s 50m Pistol just two days earlier. China’s Sun Yang, the bronze medallist, also gained an Olympic quota for his country. So did India’s Gurpreet Singh (4th, 154.8 points), and Lee Daemyung of the Republic of Korea (5th, 136.0 points).

(L-R) Pavla SCHORNA, Judith WAGNER and Kerstin SCHMIDT in the ISSF Target Sprint at the Olympic Shooting Range Munich/Hochbrueck during Day 4 of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol on May 31, 2015 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by ISSF Photographers)

During Day-4 of the ISSF World Cup in Munich, the ISSF Target Sprint – an event that combines shooting and running – was conducted. Germany’s Judith Wagner won the Women’s event for the third year in a row. Wagner crossed the finish line in 0:05:49,3. Pavla Schorna of the Czech Republic, the silver medalist, closed on 0:06:00,1. Bronze medalist Kerstin Schmidt of Germany completed the event in 0:06:13,9. Another German athlete, Michael Herr, won the Men’s event. Herr beat Marian Valek of the Czech Republic as he closed on closed on 0:05:13,7 – the day’s best time. Silver medallist Valek followed Herr on a time of 0:05:21,3. Germany’s Tino Hopfe took the bronze (0:05:27,4).

The ISSF World Cup Series will now move on to Gabala, Azerbaijan, after a two-month stop. The next ISSF World Cup Stage – in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events – will indeed take place there from between the 6th and the 16th of August.

6th ISSF World Cup Stage Of The Season Kicks-Off In Munich

ISSF – INTERNATIONAL SHOOTING SPORT FEDERATION

The 2015 ISSF World Cup Series lands in Munich, Germany, where a record-breaking number of 901 participating athletes coming from 87 countries will compete in the 10 Olympic Rifle and Pistol events from the 27th of May through the 1st of June.

105 medals and 78 Olympic quota places have already been assigned at the first five ISSF World Cup Stages of the season, held in Acapulco (MEX), Al Ain (UAE), Changwon (KOR), Larnaca (CYP) and Fort Benning (USA). Thirty more medals, and 24 Rio 2016 Olympic qualification spots, will be distributed here in Munich, the capital of Rifle and Pistol shooting.

The competitions will be held at the well-known 1972 Olympic Shooting Range of Munich, which hosted a some 25 ISSF World Cup Stages since 1986. The venue will also be the location of this year’s ISSF World Cup Final in Rifle and Pistol events, which will take place in a few months, from September 1st to September 7th.
The first medals of the Stage will be assigned tomorrow, Thursday 28th of May, at the end of the 10m Air Rifle Men and Women finals scheduled to take place at 13.30 and 17.00 (GMT+2), respectively.

ISSF World Cup Shotgun 2015 – Acapulco, MEX – Finals Trap Women
ACAPULCO – MARCH 2: 4th placed Kayle BROWNING of the United States of America competes in the Trap Women Finals at the at the Club “Caza, Tiro y Pesca de Acapulco, A.C.” Shooting Range during Day 1 of the ISSF World Cup Shotgun on March 2, 2015 in Acapulco, Mexico. (Photo by Nicolo Zangirolami)

At the 10m Air Rifle Men event, once again everyone is waiting for Yang Haoran. China’s Youth Olympic champion, who ranks first in the world, will be one of the favourites to win tomorrow’s event. Yang, 19, is still looking for the first World Cup gold of his season, after he won silver in Changwon last April. Russia’s Nazar Louginets, who ranks just behind Yang worlwide, is also listed as one of the athletes who could make it to the podium. Louginets, who will turn 26 next Sunday, could make himself a gift by winning his first World Cup gold this year. Hungary’s Peter Sidi, ranked third in the world, will make a tough opponent for Yang and Louginets. Sidi, 36, has won gold at the first rifle and pistol competition earlier this season–there, he beat China’s Yang and Zhu.

Serbia’s Andrea Arsovic, 28, will try to win yet another gold after her success in Fort Benning two weeks ago. Arsovic, who ranks first in the world, has been missing on the podium’s highest step for two years–her last World Cup gold was in Fort Benning in 2103. Ivana Maksimovic, Arsovic’s teammate and an Olympic Silver Medalist, will raise Serbia’s chances of making a medal. Maksimovic, 25, has won a silver medal earlier in this season in Changwon. India’s 22-year-old Apurvi Chandela, who came in third behind Maksimovic in Changwon, will also run for a spot in the final tomorrow.

All the final matches will be broadcasted live, via internet, through the ISSF Website http://www.issf-sports.org and on the Livestream platform.

ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup closed in Fort Benning

….Serbia finishes atop of the medals standings

Olympic Champ Jin Jongoh (KOR) won the last gold medal of the ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning at today’s 10m Air Pistol Men event.

More than 600 athletes coming from 76 countries competed in the 2015 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup held in Fort Benning (USA) – the fifth world cup leg of the season – from the 13th through the 18th of May. They arrived there to compete in the 10 Olympic Rifle and Pistol events, trying to secure one of the 24 Rio 2016 Olympic Quota places, and to collect world cup points.

Korea’s five-time Olympic medallist Jin Jongoh won the last match of the event, today’s 10m Air Pistol Men final, collecting his second world cup gold back to back. Jin’s final score of 202.0 points turned out to be unreachable for today’s Silver medallist, the 2004 Olympic Bronze medallist Vladimir Isakov of Russia, who scored 199.9 points finishing in second place 2.1 points behind the Korean winner. The Bronze medal went to Portugal’s 50-year old Joao Costa, a four-time Olympian, who scored 178.4 points, claiming an Olympic pass for Rio.

FORT BENNING – MARCH 28: 5th placed Peter SIDI of Hungary competes in the 10m Air Rifle Men Finals at the Shooting Range of the United States Army Marksmanship Unit during Day 1 of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol March 28, 2014 in Fort Benning, Georgia, United States of America. (Photo by Marco Dalla Dea)

Earlier today, Kazakhstan’s Yuriy Yurkov – ranked 50th in the world – beat world’s #2 Zhu Qinan of the People’s Republic of China at the last shot of a thrilling 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men event, winning Gold and a Rio 2016 Olympic Quota Place. Yurkov – who had never compete in an ISSF world cup final round before – scored 456.3 points, leaving behind him two Athens 2004’s Olympic Champions: China’s Zhu Qinan – second with 455.3 points – and USA’s Matthew Emmons, third with 445.0 points.

After ten finals conducted in Fort Benning, it was the Serbian team that finished atop of the medals standings table, thanks to the three Gold medals collected by Stefanovic and Arsovic at the 10m Air Rifle Men and Women event, and by Mikec at the 50m Pistol Men competition.

The People’s Republic of China followed in second place, with a total of four medals, including one Gold, two Silver and 1 Bronze medals. The host country, USA, ended up in seventh with 1 Gold (won by Michael Mcphail at the 50m Rifle Prone Men event) and 1 Bronze medal secured by Matthew Emmons at today’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men final.

“We are very happy about this world cup event, and especially that we were able to get a new finals hall here in Fort Benning. That makes the difference.” Mr. Gary Anderson – ISSF Vice-President and member of the USA Shooting’s Board of Directors – said after the last final.

“This falls into the ISSF development strategy: to get attractive fields of play, that highlights the athletes and focus the attention on their performances.”

FORT BENNING – MARCH 28: 5th placed Peter SIDI of Hungary competes in the 10m Air Rifle Men Finals at the Shooting Range of the United States Army Marksmanship Unit during Day 1 of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol March 28, 2014 in Fort Benning, Georgia, United States of America. (Photo by Marco Dalla Dea)

“The quality of this world cup is so much better than all we had before here. We’ve always been proud of our officials, we think they do a good job and they work really hard, but the new finals hall was the highlight of this competition. Yesterday, a new final world record was scored on the new range, at the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women final.” Mr. Anderson said, speaking about the new finals hall that was added to the well-known venue of Fort Benning, which hosted 9 different ISSF World Cup Stages since 1994.

The ISSF World Cup Series moves now on to Munich, Germany, where the next world cup leg will be hosted from the 26th of May through the 2nd of June. The first medals will be assigned on the 28th of May, when the 10m Air Rifle Men and Women finals will be held. Follow the next events live on http://www.issf-sports.org

5th ISSF World Cup Stage Of The Season Opens In Fort Benning, USA

The fifth leg of this year’s ISSF World Cup Series kicked-off in Fort Benning, USA, where the rifle and pistol world cup stage is held from the 13th through the 18th of May. Serbia’s Stefanovic and Mongolia’s Otryad won the firs two finals of the event, today.

Over 600 athletes representing 76 nations arrived in Fort Benning, GA, USA, to compete in the 10 Olympic Rifle and Pistol shooting events, trying to secure one of the 24 Rio 2016 Olympic Quota places up for grabs.

The first athlete to climb atop of Fort Benning’s podium was Milutin Stefanovic of Serbia (30), the winner of today’s 10m Air Rifle Men event. The Serbian shooter beat the current #1 in the world in this event, China’s air rifle champion Yang Haoran (19), to secure his first ISSF World Cup Gold in career and a Rio 2016 Olympic Quota place.

FORT BENNING – MAY 14: 5th placed Sarah BEARD of the United States of America competes in the 10m Air Rifle Women Finals at the Shooting Range of the United States Army Marksmanship Unit during Day 2 of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol on May 14, 2015 in Fort Benning, Georgia, United States of America. (Photo by Nicolo Zangirolami)

“It’s amazing! The policy of our team is that who wins the Olympic quota goes to the Games. I am going to Rio, to my first Olympic Games.” The winner said, right after the last shot. “I am very satisfied with my result: today’s score is a new Serbian record. I have been shooting for the medals: I tried not to think about the Olympic quota place, and that’s probably the recipe of my success.”

“Going against the top-ranked athletes of the world, I had a lot of pressure on me. But I love the pressure. I am giving my best under this conditions.” Stefanovic added, smiling as one of his teammates reminded him that he will have a lot of pressure to cope with, when he will be in Rio.

The 2014 Youth Olympic Champion Yang Haoran followed him in second place, with 209.0 points, while the Bronze medal and the second Rio 2016 Olympic quota place went to Bulgaria’s Anton Rizov (27), who scored 185.8 points to win his first world cup medal in career in this event.

Day-1 of the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Fort Benning continued with the 25m Pistol Women final, conducted at the brand new finals’ hall of the USAMU shooting venue.

The match tuned in favour of Beijing 2008’s Olympic Silver medallist Otryad Gundegmaa of Mongolia (36), who pocketed her second consecutive world cup gold medal of the season as she beat Bulgaria’s Antoaneta Boneva (29) with a net score of 7 to 1 points in the medal match. Boneva collected a Rio 2016 quota place, as Otryad had already won one at the last world cup stage in Changwon, Republic of Korea.

FORT BENNING – MARCH 28: 5th placed Peter SIDI of Hungary competes in the 10m Air Rifle Men Finals at the Shooting Range of the United States Army Marksmanship Unit during Day 1 of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol March 28, 2014 in Fort Benning, Georgia, United States of America. (Photo by Marco Dalla Dea)

The 25m Pistol Women Bronze medal went to the reigning World Champion, Zhang Jingjing of the People’s Republic of China (26), who beat the 2014 Junior world champion Mathilde Lamolle (18) of France, ranked 88th in the world and competing in her first world cup final round. Zhang left few chances to her young opponents, scoring 7 points to Lamolle’s 1 in the medal match to step onto Fort Benning’s podium. Lamolle secured the second Rio 2016 Quota place assigned by the ISSF today.

The ISSF World Cup Stage in Fort Benning will continue tomorrow, with the 50m Pistol Men final assigning the first medals at 12.00, and the 10m Air Rifle Women final following at 14.45 (GMT-4). All finals will be broadcasted live on http://www.issf-sports.org

Kostelecky Pockets Second World Cup Gold Back To Back At The Closing Event Of The 2015 ISSF Shotgun World Cup In Larnaca

ISSF – INTERNATIONAL SHOOTING SPORT FEDERATION

Czech Republic’s Kostelecky won the last match of the ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Larnaca, Cyprus, which saw the participation of 490 shooters coming from 77 countries.

Today’s Trap Men final won by the 2008 Olympic Champion David Kostelecky of the Czech Republic closed the 2015 ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Larnaca, Cyprus.

The 39-year old shooter climbed atop of the podium after a breathtaking gold medal match, where he met and beat Turkey’s 27-year old Yavuz Ilnam with a score of 13 to 12 hits. The two athletes shot neck and neck right to the last shot, when Ilnam missed his very last target, leaving the brightest medal to Kostelecky.

2008 Olympic Champion Kostelecky had never won a world cup gold before this season. He made it for the first time at the last world cup stage in Al Ain (UAE), and he repeated himself today, at the Olympic shooting range of Larnaca.

“It’s crazy, I had never won a gold in 20 years, and now I got two back to back. Sometimes life is strange.” Said the Czech champion after the final. “You can’t drop many targets these days, if you want to make it into the final. The results of the competitors are so high that there’s not much room for mistakes. Rio 2016 is the goal for every shooter, now. But that’s still far away, 14 months, you never know what it can happen in between. I am trying to stay focused on this year’s competitions.” He added, speaking about his future plans.

Silver medallist Ilnam celebrated with Kostelecky, in spite of losing the medal match. Indeed, not only he won his very first world cup medal, but he also claimed a Rio 2016 Olympic quota for Turkey. Quite an achievement for the 27-year old athlete ranked 88th in the world, and who had never made it into a final round of a world cup event, before.

The Bronze medal match finished in favour of Croatia’s Josip Glasnovic (31), who beat Finland’s first-time finalist Vesa Tornroos with a net score of 15 to 10 target. As the Croatian shooter had already won an Olympic quota at the last world cup in Al Ain (where he claimed Silver), today’s second Rio 2016 qualification spot went to Finland.
The fourth world cup stage of the year kicked off on here in Larnaca on the 26th of April. 490 shooters coming from 77 countries arrived in Cyprus to compete in the five Olympic shotgun events, trying to secure one of the 10 Rio 2016 Olympic quotas up for grabs.

Gold medalist David KOSTELECKY of the Czech Republic competes in the Trap Men Finals at the Larnaca Olympic Shooting Range during Day 8 of the ISSF World Cup Shotgun on May 3, 2015 in Larnaca, Cyprus. (Photo by Nicolo Zangirolami)

The competition started off with the Italian flag waiving upon the highest step of the podium, as Diana Bacosi won her second world cup back to back at the Skeet Women final beating China’s Yu Xiumin in the gold medal match. The Skeet Women’s Bronze went to one of the youngest finalists of this year’s ISSF World Cup Series, USA’s Morgan Craft, 21, who shoot her way to the podium by winning a qualification’s shoot-off with 71+6 hits, and then shuttered 14 targets in the semi-final. At the Bronze medal match, she met and defeat Thailand’s Sutia Jiewchaloemmit with a score of 15 to 13 hits, pocketing her very first ISSF world cup medal. Olympic qualification spots went to China and Thailand, as both Italy and USA have already achieved the maximum number of quotas for this event.

The world cup stage continued the following day, on the 27th of April, with the Skeet Men final which saw the success of Saif Bin Futtais of the United Arab Emirates. Bin Futtais claimed the brightest medal as he beat Sweden’s Marcus Svensson with a shoot-off score of 4 to 3 hits, after the Gold medal match where the two tied with 14 hits each. Both the Gold and Silver medallist qualified for Rio 2016. Anton Astakhov of the Russian Federation, participating in his first ISSF world cup final round, secured the Bronze medal beating Great Britain’s Jeremy Harry Bird by 13 to 12 hits in the Bronze medal match. Cyprus medal hope Georgios Achilleos did not make it to the podium, but he equalled the current Skeet Men world record during the qualification phase of the competition, with a perfect score of 125 hits out of 125 targets.

The 2014 ISSF World Championship silver medallist and world’s #6 Antonino Barillà of Italy claimed the Double Trap Men gold on the 29th of April, at the third final match of this world cup in Larnaca. The Italian athlete beat Guatemala’s first-time world cup finalist Enrique Brol – ranked 30th in the world – with 29 hits in the Gold medal match to Brol’s 27. Brol and Bronze medallist Pan Qiang (30) of the People’s Republic of China clinched the two Olympic quotas, as Barillà had already won one at last year’s world championship.

The Trap Women final, conducted yesterday, 2nd of May, turned in favour of Finland, as the 2008 Olympic Champion Satu Makela-Nummela claimed Gold and clinched a Rio 2016 Olympic quota place for her country, beating Tatiana Barsuk of the Russian Federation with a score of 13 to 12 hits. Spain’s Fatima Galvez pocketed the Bronze, beating the Australian first-time finalist Emma Elizabeth Cox at the end of spine-chilling shoot-off. The two athletes tied with 9 hits at the end of the medal match, and then continued shooting in the tie-breaker. They both missed their first three shoot-off targets, and it was the fourth clay to decide the medal in favour of the Spanish shooter.

After five events, the Italian team finished atop of the medals standings, with two Gold medals. The Czech Republic, Finland and the United Arab Emirates placed in second with one Gold medal each. At the same time, the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation finished in the spotlights by securing two Rio 2016 Olympic quota place each, out of the 10 quotas up for grabs here in Larnaca.

The ISSF World Cup Series moves now on to America, as the fifth world cup leg of the year is going to be held in Fort Benning, USA. There, the best rifle and pistol shooters of the world will meet from the 11th through the 19th of May, competing for 24 Olympic quota spots and to collect qualification points for this year’s ISSF World Cup Final.

2014 ISSF World Cup Series Ends in Gabala, Azerbaijan

ISSF – INTERNATIONAL SHOOTING SPORT FEDERATION

The 2014 ISSF World Cup Final in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events held in Gabala, Azerbaijan, from the 21st to the 28th of October, came to an end today.

154 athletes coming from 39 countries competed there in the 15 Olympic shooting events. Only the bests qualified to participate: the 2013 World Cup Final title defenders and the 2014 ISSF World Championship medallists met the top-8 athletes of each event, selected through this year’s ISSF World Cup Stages held in Fort Benning (USA), Tucson (USA), Almaty (KAZ), Munich (GER), Maribor (SLO) and Beijing (CHN).

The Russian Federation finished atop of the medal standing, pocketing 5 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze medals here in Gabala. The People’s Republic of China closed the event in second in spite of collecting an impressive total of 14 medals (3 Gold, 3 Silver, 8 Bronze). Germany followed in third with 2 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze medals.

photo credit, ISSF

Two records were equalled during the competition: USA’s Haley Dunn equalled the current Skeet Women World Record of 74 hits out of 75 targets, while Russia’s Leonid Ekimov equalled the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men Final World Record of 35 points.

“This year’s ISSF World Cup Final has been a great success.” The ISSF Secretary General Franz Schreiber said. “The athletes gave their best at the end of an intense season, and we would like to thank the organizers of this event who set up an excellent shooting range. This new facility in Gabala will host a combined ISSF World Cup Stage next year, and we are looking forward to come back here.”

The ISSF World Cup Final concluded the 2014 international shooting sport season.

The 2015 ISSF World Cup Series will kick-off from Acapulco (MEX) on the 28 of February, next year.