10m Air Pistol Men – Omelchuk brings gold to Ukraine
The 25-year old Oleg OMELCHUK earned Gold for Ukraine in the 10m Air Pistol Men event at the ISSF World Cup Final in Bangkok. The young shooter overtook Norayr BAKHTAMYAN of Armenia, who lost his advantage and finished in second by firing a poor 7.9 shot.
Oleg OMELCHUK of Ukraine shot Gold at today’s 10m Air Pistol Men final at the 2008 ISSF World Cup Final in Bangkok. The 25-year old Ukrainian shooter entered the match in second place after the qualification rounds with a three points gap from the first qualified BAKHTAMYAN of Armenia. OMELCHUK fired a high-average final, marking 102.4 points for a total score of 687.4 points. To finish on the lead, he successfully exploited the fatal mistake of the Armenian shooter who put himself in second place by firing a frustrating 7.9 on his ninth competition shot.
OMELCHUK had qualified for this year ISSF World Cup Final by earning a Silver at the World Cup Stage of Milan, and he had never won an international gold medal in this event before.
The two times Olympian Norayr BAKHTAMYAN of Armenia, 38, took Silver with 685.2 points, paying that 7.9 shot that pushed him down from the leadership. The Armenian shooter had qualified for this Final at this year’s the pre-Olympic World Cup of Beijing, where he had placed in fourth. He had already competed here in Bangkok, winning a World Cup Final Silver in 2004 and a spot in the final in in 2007.
Bronze went to the Olympic Bronze medallist of Athens 2004, the Russian shooter Vladimir ISAKOV, who finished in third with 684.1 points. ISAKOV, the winner of the last 2007 World Cup Final, resisted to the assault of the 2000 Olympic Champion Franck DUMOULIN of France, 35, who fired the highest final score of 102.7 points climbing the scoreboard from the last place he had after the qualifications up to the fourth place. Closing the match with a disappointing tenth competition shot of 9.9 points, DUMOULIN finished in fourth only a few tenths behind ISAKOV, with a total score of 683.7 points.
Beijing Games’ multimedallist JIN Jong Oh of Korea placed in fifth, preceding today’s youngest finalist, Mauro BADARACCHI of Italy, and the Olympic Bronze medallist of Beijing Jason TURNER, USA, seventh.
