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The Title Defenders of the 2007 World Championships of Nicosia are running for a second title. It’s not going to be easy: they will face Olympic Champions, World Cup winners and new, young, strong shooters.

The first “shooters to beat” at the 2009 ISSF Shotgun World Championships of Maribor will be the title defenders, those who won on the ranges of the 2007 World Championships of Cyprus. All of them all still shooting, and they will almost certainly try to defend their titles in Nicosia. Maribor’s challenge is coming closer; let’s meet the title defenders!

Trap Men: Diamond, Kostelecky and Pellielo are in the game.
Michael Diamond of Australia, the winner of the 2007 World Championship in the Trap Men event, has been one of the protagonists of the 2009 ISSF World Cup season, and he has shot is last final match at the last World Cup Stage of the year, in San Marino. He will probably face the 2008 Olympic Silver medallist Giovanni Pellielo, who said to be ready for this year’s World Championships. “I just changed my shotgun, but I got used to it quickly. Now I am positively looking forward to the next competitions…” Said Pellielo, right after winning the World Cup Stage in Minsk. Meeting them in Maribor, the 2008 Olympic Champion David Kostelecky of Czech Republic, Silver medallist at this year’s ISSF World Cup in San Marino, will look for his first World Championship title. The Czech Champion said to be ready, and will probably be one of the strongest shooters to beat on the ranges of Maribor.

Double Trap Men: D’Aniello faces many opponents.
The 2007 Double Trap winner Francesco D’Aniello of Italy, coming from the Olympic Silver medal won in Beijing, shot good matches during this year’s World Cup Series, and he will try to peak in time for the World Championships “The World Championships is my next goal!” he said in Minsk, this year. He will have to face strong competitors. First of all Beijing’s Olympic Champion, Walton Eller of the USA, and then the record setter Hu Binyuan of China (who established a new 196-target records in Minsk) and the keen Indian shooter Ronjan Sodhi, second at this year’s World Cup in Minsk with a consistent score of 194 hits.

Trap Women: Is Liu Yingzi peaking for the Championships?
The 28-year old Chinese shooter Liu Yingzi, the 2007 World Champion, showed to be ready to run for a second title at this year’s ISSF World Cup in Minsk, where she won her first World Cup Gold medal shooting under the rain. Is she peaking for the World Championship? What is sure is that strong competitors are in front of her. The Olympic Champion of Beijing, Satu Makela-Nummela of Finland, did not reach her best results through this year’s World Cup Series, but she has been proving more then once to be able to shoot great performances. At the same time, the young Olympic Silver and Bronze medallists of Beijing, the Slovakian shooters Zuzana Stefecekova and the American Corey Cogdell could peak in time for the World Championships of Maribor, trying to gain a spot on the most important podium of the year.

Skeet Women: Olympic Medallists face to face.
The Skeet Women title defender is the German shooter Christine Brinker, Olympic Bronze medallist of the 2008 Olympic Games of Beijing. On the road to the 2009 ISSF World Championships of Maribor, she is facing strong opponents. First of all, Beijing’s Olympic Champion Chiara Cainero of Italy, who won the last World Cup in San Marino overtaking the same Brinker. The American shooter Kimberly Rodhe, Silver medallist of the last Olympic Games, will also be a difficult opponents to beat for Brinker. Rodhe finished on ISSF World Cup podiums more then once, this year, and she will surely look for a spot on Maribor’s medal standings.
Coming in next, three different shooters, Wei Ning of China, Danka Bartekova of Slovakia and Svetlana Demina of Russia, won an ISSF World Cup Gold medal this year, presenting themselves as three of the strongest 2009 shooters.

Skeet Men: Georgios Achilleos is back in the lead
The reigning Skeet Men Champion, the Cypriot shooter Georgios Achilleos, is back in the lead. Following the delusion of the Olympic Games, where he walked into the match as the number one in the world missing then the podium, he seems now to be back in his best shape. The Cypriot shooters came back on the highest step of an ISSF podium at the World Cup in San Marino “It’s great to be back on top. But now I am looking forward, we have a busy year with the Mediterranean Games, the Europeans and the World Championships… I will try my best!” He said in San Marino.
He will face the three Olympic medallists of Beijing, three shooters he has being meeting many times in finals within the last four years. The Olympic Champion, USA’s Vincent Hancock, Beijing’s Silver, Norway’s Tore Brovold, and the Olympic Bronze, France’s Anthony Terras, are three strong competitors who finished on several ISSF podiums since the 2008 ISSF World Cup Final of Minsk. They all will try to grab Achilleos’ title in Maribor, where we are probably going to witness a breathtaking Skeet Men Final.