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Marian KOVACOCY, 24-year old, from Slovakia, is the new Trap Men World Champion. The Slovakian shooter won the Trap Men Final round with a total score of 146 hits, climbing up from the fifth place he held after the qualification rounds and upsetting any prediction.

“The shoot-off to get into the final has been quite stressing, but then I feld more confiident during the final round. It has been a tough match, but I feel great now!” Said KOVACOCY, who had to pass through a four-way shoot-off to enter the final round where he met Olympic and World Champions.

Shooting solidly, the Slovakian shooter missed only one clay throughout the 25-target final round, climbing in the lead and overtaking the Italian shooter Massimo FABBRIZI to win Gold. KOVACOCY had won the 2001 World Championship competing as junior athlete, but he had never made into a World Championship final round shooting between Seniors, before. “It’s different, it’s not comparable” only commented KOVACOCY, who did not climb on an ISSF podium since 2001 “You cannot compare two different categories! I really had no expectations for today’s match, the result came unexpected.  I cannot wait to celebrate with my teammates now!”

2005 World Champion Fabbrizi shot Silver.
Italy’s Massimo FABBRIZI, the 2005 World Champion, shot neck and neck with KOVACOCY right to the last shot, when the expert Italian fatally dropped his last target missing the highest step of the podium. Sliding in second place, FABBRIZI had to pass through a shoot-off against the Turkish shooter Oguzhan TUZUN to secure Silver with a total score of 145 hits +1 target in the shoot-off.

“You cannot imagine the pressure of such a match,” commented FABBRIZI after winning the shoot-off for Silver. The Italian shooter, winner of this year’s ISSF World Cup in Munich, suffered the stress of the match: “I was shooting next to an Olympic Champion, I did not expect that an outsider could make it. ..I congratulate Kovacocy.!I am really sorry I lost the Gold in this way. But at the same time, I am so proud I made it to the podium winning a Silver medal!”

By missing on the first shoot-off target, the 26-year old Turkish shooter TUNZUN placed in third winning Bronze with a total of 145 targets +0. TUNZUN, who had won the 1999 Junior World Championship of Tampere, had never made into a World Championship Senior final before.

The Olympic Champion in fourth: “…but it has been a positive season!”
The Olympic Champion of Beijing David KOSTELECKY of Czech Republic finished the match in fourth place, hitting a total of 144 targets. KOSTELECKY, who came from a Silver medal won at the last World Cup Stage of the year, said to be satisfied anyway “I really had a hard time following the Games, being under pressure” KOSTELECKY said; “My goal for this season was to make it at least into a final round. I shot three international finals, and I won a medal at the World Cup in San Marino. The balance of the season is therefore absolutely positive to me.” KOSTELECKY concluded: “Now I will take a few time off, I will shoot at the ISSF World Cup Final, but then I will try to regroup before the next season.”

Italy claimed teams’ Gold, followed by Slovakia and Czech Republic
FABBRIZI’s score, combined with the good results reached by his teammates Giovanni PELLIELO and Erminio FRASCA, brought Italy on the highest step of the teams podium. The overall score of 362 targets placed Italy in first with one target of advantage on KOVACOCY’s Slovakia.

Slovakia’s team (KOVACOCY, FILIPOVIC, VARGA) placed in second securing the teams’ Silver with a combined score of 361 targets. Czech Republic tied Slovakia. The team leaded by the Olympic Champion KOSTELECKY (KOSTELECKY, DANEK and LIPTAK) shot a total of 361 targets as well.

The World Championship continues.
The 2009 ISSF World Championship continues with the Trap Women and the Trap Women Junior events. The competitions will start tomorrow with the official training, and will continue the 11th with the qualification and the Trap Women Final round which will assign the next medals.

The 16-year old Italian shooter Valerio GRAZINI claimed the first place on the Trap Men Junior podium with a final score of 122 hits out of 125 targets, concluding his match with a perfect game of 25 hits on his last round.

GRAZINI fought neck and neck against the 19-year old Junior European Champion Paco MACHADO of Spain, who ended up in second with a total score of 121 hits after dropping a fatal target on his last round.

“This is my first international medal! It has been great!” Said GRAZINI right after the last round “I had won two team awards at the European Championships, but this is my first individual podium!”

“I did not shoot at my best during the training, so I was kind of scared… but then confidence started peaking through the competition, and I found my best condition. Actually, my usual average is not that high. 122 targets is a great score for me! The shooting range seems excellent, so were the targets!” concluded GRAZINI.

Paco MACHADO, 19, coming from a victory at July’s European Championship of Osijek, finished in second place, winning Silver with a total score of 121 hits. The Bronze medal went to Germany’s Daniel WIESEMANN, 19-year old, participating in his first ISSF World Championship. WEISSMAN climbed upon the podium with a total score of 120 hits after winning 1 to 0 a shoot-off against Portugal’s Pedro Jorge Nun PARREIRA, who eventually finished in fourth place.

Team’s competition: Grazini’s Italy shot Gold
Grazini’s 122-target final score lifted the Italian team (Grazini, Fanali and Fioravanti) on the highest step of the teams’ podium. The Italian shooters won Gold with an overall score of 354 targets.

The United States of America finished in second place, securing Silver with the total score of 347 targets shot by Collin Craig Wietfeldt, Jacob Turner and Seth Politi.

The Trap Men Junior teams’ Bronze medal went to Portugal (Perreira, Diogo Rosario and Sousa Campos), with a total score of 346 targets, turning out to be only one target shy of tying the USA in second place.

The recently awarded European Junior World Champion Paco MACHADO of Spain is leading the Trap Junior Men match after the first day of competition. After the first 75 targets, the young 19-year old athlete is leading the provisory ranking with a total score of 73 hits. MACHADO, who won the Junior title at the 2009 European Championships of Osijek last July, had participated also at the 2006 and 2007 ISSF Shotgun World Championships, placing 18th and 17th, respectively.

The first day of competition of the 2009 ISSF Shotgun World Championship saw the great result recorded by the Olympic Champion David KOSTELECKY (CZE). Shooting in a beautiful sunny day, with almost no wind, the Czech shooter concluded the first day of the Trap Men qualifications with a full score of 75 hits out of 75 targets. KOSTELECKY comes from a Silver medal won at the last ISSF World Cup stage in San Marino, last June. The Czech shooter, who had won a World Championship as junior shooter in 1995, is still looking for his first Gold medal after the Olympic Games of Beijing.

The Chinese outsider LI Yang, 22-year old, surprised everybody by finishing this first day of qualification with a full score of 75 hits, reaching the Olympic Champion KOSTELECKY atop of the provisory ranking of the Trap Men event. LI has never made it to an ISSF podium so far, and his best personal placement has been a 16th place at the last 2008 Olympic Games.

The title defender, the winner of the 2007 World Championships, the legendary Australian Trap shooter Michael DIAMOND (a seven-time world champion), shot a total of 73 targets today, dropping two precious targets at this morning’s first qualification round. DIAMOND currently holds the 10th place of the provisory ranking, while Italy’s champion Giovanni PELLIELO, the current number two in the World Ranking, stopped his target-counter to 72 hits finishing in 26th place.

The games are still open: the Trap Men competition will continue tomorrow, when the last 50 qualification targets will be thrown. The Trap Men final round, where the top 6 athletes will meet to fight for the medals in a 25-target round, will take place tomorrow afternoon at 5.00 PM.

The 2009 ISSF Shotgun World Championship kicked-off in Maribor, Slovenia, where about 600 shooters coming from 70 countries will compete from the 6th through the 17th of August at the Gaj shooting range.

The competitions start today with the Trap Men and Trap Junior Man matches. The first final round of the Championship, the Trap Men Final, will take place tomorrow, at 5.00 PM local time.

The ISSF Shotgun World Championship officially kicked-off from the opening ceremony, where the ISSF Secretary General Horst G. Schreiber welcomed the athletes along with the local sport and government authorities.

The Slovenian Minister of Defence, Mrs. Ljubica JELUSIC greeted the shooters in behalf of the Slovenian Prime Minister “It’s an honour to host such a prime competition here in Slovenia. – Said the Minister – Our country is going to be the centre of the shooting sport world in the next days. This competition is the highlight of a ten-year long work, and we hope you will bring back good memories of our country. We wish you all to reach successful results!”

“We expect that our shooters will perform an exciting competition, here in Maribor!” Said the ISSF Secretary General, Mr. Horst SCHREIBER, speaking from the stage of the opening ceremony “I am welcoming you all in behalf of our President, Mr. Olegario Vazquez Raña. Slovenia is a sport-loving country that reached five medals at the last Games, and it is an excellent location for our shooting sport championships. – Continued Mr. SCHREIBER. – We are going to have a wonderful competition. I wish good luck to our shooters for a fair competition!”

The organizer of this 2009 ISSF Shotgun World Championships, Mr. Igor RAKUSA, thanked the participating athletes, speaking about a dream that has came true. “Thank you for coming here! My dream to realize one of the top shotgun ranges of the world has come true. I have a new vision… – continued Mr. Rakusa – We are working to expand our sport centre, in order to offer Rifle and Pistol shooting facilities.”

The President of the Shooting Union of Slovenia, Mr. Gorazd MALOIC, greeted the competitors “It is great to have you here – said the President – Thanks to the ISSF for entrusting us of the organization of this Championships. We will do our best, and we are sure that also the athletes will try their best! I wish you the greatest success!”

The 2009 ISSF World Championship was officially opened by a speech of the Slovenian National Olympic Committee’s President, Mr. Janez KOCIJANCIC “Dear friends, welcome to our sport-loving country Slovenia – Mr. KOCIJANCIC said – I wish that the sport spirit will prevail, and that the best will win. The competition is officially open!”