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.
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.
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).
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.
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