The 50m Pistol Men Final opened Day-2 of the 2016 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand. The match turned into a stage of success for India’s Jitu Rai, 28. The winner of the 2014 Asian Games, currently ranked 5th in the world in this event, shot consistently since the beginning of the round, and then peaked in the second half of the final, leaving few chances to his opponents. Rai entered into the last two shots with a 4.5-point advantage on his closest follower, the 2008 air pistol Olympic Champion Pang Wei of the People’s Republic of China (29), and eventually sealed the victory with a sharp 10.0, finishing atop of the podium with a score of 191.3 points. Pang, who had never made it to the podium in 2015, took Silver with 186.5 points, while his teammate Wang Zhiwei, 27 – the Olympic Bronze medallist of London 2012 – claimed Bronze with 165.8 points.
Today’s victory, with such a large margin on those top-ranked finalists, places Jitu Rai atop of the favourites’ list on the road to Rio 2016. The Indian shooter makes no secret about his aims. “The goal for the 2016 season is very clear: I want to win the Olympic Gold medal in Rio de Janeiro,” he said right after the final. “Given the amount of training and efforts I put in preparation of this competition, I was really confident before today’s match.”
At the following 25m Pistol Women Final, it was the Chinese World Champion Zhang Jingjing, 27, who collected the gold.
“I am very, very happy! I work hard, and I always want to win more!” she said, after winning an all-Asian match.
The Chinese shooter – currently ranked first in the world in this event – started the 2016 season in the best possible way. No surprises there: Zhang is the reigning world champion and the world cup titleholder, as well as the reigning Asian Games champion.
Today, she proved she’s in great shape. Making it into the final with one of the highest qualification scores (586 points), she closed the semi-final atop of the table, with 19 hits. In the Gold medal match, then, she met the 33-year old first-time finalist from South Korea, Park Hyun Joo, a no-match for the expert Chinese athlete, who secured the Gold medal with a score of 8 points to Park’s 4.
“In 2016, I want to improve, and win more medals!” Zhang said after the medal ceremony, talking about her preparation for Rio. At the Games, she will certainly meet Mongolia’s Otryad Gundegmaa, 37, the 2008 Olympic Silver medallist who pocketed today’s Bronze.
BANGKOK – MARCH 4: (L-R) Silver medalist PANG Wei of the Peoples Republic of China, Gold medalist Jitu RAI of India and Bronze medalist WANG Zhiwei of the Peoples Republic of China pose with their medals after the 50m Pistol Men Finals at the National Shooting Sport Association of Thailand Shooting Range during Day 2 of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol on March 4, 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo by Nicolo Zangirolami)
Otryad is indeed ranked second in the world, as she finished on the podium at last year’s ISSF World Cup Final in Munich, and at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, behind Zhang. Today, she displayed her strong skills once again, by beating another first-time finalist – Tien Chia Chen of the Chinese Taipei (32) – with a net score of 8 to 2 points.
The 2016 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand, will continue tomorrow. Day-3 will see the two more medal matches: the 50m Rifle Prone Men and the 10m Air Pistol Men finals, to be conducted at 11:00 and 13.15 (UTC+7), respectively. Finals will be broadcasted live on http://www.issf-sports.org
World Champion Zhang Jingjing of China and Junior Wolrd Champion Jean Quiquampoix of France won the 25m Pistol Women and Rapid Fire Pistol Men finals at the ISSF World Cup Final in Munich, today.
The 2015 ISSF Rifle and Pistol Wolrd Cup Final, held in Munich (GER) from the 2nd through the 7th of September, continued today with the 25m Pistol Women and Rapid Fire Pistol Men finals.
The reigning world champion Zhang Jingjing of China (26) turned out to be unbeatable, at the 25m Pistol Women medal match. Zhang nailed the world cup title as she beat Mongolia’s Gundegmaa Otryad 7 to 3 points in the gold medal match, after they had finished the semi-final tied atop of the table with 17 hits. Otryad (37), ranked second in the world, secured silver as she did at last year’s ISSF World Cup Final in Gabala (AZE).
The Chinese athlete has now Rio 2016 in her sights, after winning all major shooting competitions in the last two years, from her first ISSF World Cup Final title in 2013, to the Asian Games and ISSF World Championship in 2014.
Cao Lija (18) joined her teammate Zhang on today’s podium, as she beat the third Chinese finalist Lin Yuemei (21) in the Bronze medal match with a sharp score of 8 to 0 points. Both Cao and Lin had made it into the medal match passing through a four-way shoot-off as they tied Bulgaria’s Antoaneta Boneva (fifth) and Germany’s Monika Karsch (sixth) with 15 hits at the end of the semi-final.
At the following 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men final, it was France’s 19-year old shooter Jean Quiquampoix who claimed the world cup title. The young athlete scored 32 hits, leaving Russia’s two-time Olympian and world record holder Leonid Ekimov (27) in second place with 31 hits.
The French athlete pocketed his first senior title after winning the 2014 Junior Wolrd Champion and the 2012 and 2015 Junior European Champion titles, and also set a new Junior final world record (junior records are recorded also in senior finals), shuttering the 31 hits record he had established at this year’s European Championship in Maribor (SLO).
Zhang Jingjing of China, ISSF World Cup Final in Munich, shooting
The reigning world champion Kim Jun Hong of the Republic of Korea (24) took the Bronze with 27 hits, finishing ahead of Russia’s Alexei Klimov (40), fourth with 22 hits.
“I am extremely happy because it’s a very nice way to close my last junior season,” Quiquampoix said. “At the beginning of today’s match, it seemed to be easy. But as we went on shooting I could feel the pressure building up.”
“What’s my next goal? I want to win the Olympic Games.” Concluded Quiquampoix, who secured an Olympic quota at this year’s ISSF World Cup stage in Changwon (KOR).
The ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup Final sees the best 85 shooters of the world selected throughout this year’s ISSF World Cup Stages in Changwon (KOR), Fort Benning (USA), Munich (GER) and Gabala (AZE) competing against the reigning world champions and the title defenders for the ISSF World Cup titles.
The event will continue tomorrow with four medal events, the women’s and men’s 10m Air Pistol and Air Rifle finals, starting from 10:30 (GMT+2). All final matches will be broadcasted live on http://www.issf-sports.org
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.
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
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
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