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The Australian champion overtook the two Italian teammates Pellielo and Fabbrizi, winning Gold with one target of advantage on his opponents.

The two-time Olympic Champion Michael Diamond won today’s Trap Men competition at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup Final, securing the third title of his career with a total score of 134 hits (117+16). Diamond climbed the scoreboard and overtook the two Italian teammated Pellielo and Fabbrizi, finishing on the highest step of the podium with one target of advantage.

“Yesterday was snowing, today it is freezing – Diamond said after the award ceremony – Sun is shining today, and the reflection of the sunlight on the snow compromised the visibility. When the target flies over the snow into the dark line of the threes on the background, it’s almost gone. It has been difficult. Not impossible.”

The Australian shooter had made it into the final round with the second qualification score of 117 targets behind the qualification’s leader, Pellielo of Italy, the title defender. As Pellielo started missing, Diamond took the chance, climbing up in the lead to win with a final score of 17 hits “Somebody complained about the targets. I don’t want to comment about that. If I am missing, most of the times it’s up to me. Today, I would say that targets did not affect my round at all.”

Pellielo, Beijing’s Olympics Silver medallist, and winner of last year’s ISSF World Cup Final in Minsk, hit 12 targets out of 25 in the final, missing nine in a row, and landed in third place with a total score of 130 clays (118+12). The Italian athlete holds a record, being the shotgun shooter who won the highest number of World Cup Finals (seven titles). Today’s was his thirteenth medal in this competition. “Today’s targets were really hard. – he commented after the final - And the weather conditions were extreme.”

Italy’s Massimo Fabbrizi, 32, overtook his teammate Pellielo to claim Silver with 133 hits (117+16), his first ISSF World Cup Final medal. The 2005 World Champion also commented on the target used for the final: “I am happy I made it to the podium, but I also agree that these targets were hard to break.”

Following the medallists, the 2006 World Champion Manavjit Singh Sandhu of India paied his lower qualification score of 111 targets, and closed the round in fifth place with a total of 129 hits, finishing one clay down the podium in spite of shooting today’s best final with 18 clays.

The winner of this year’s ISSF World Cup Stages in Cairo and San Marino, USA’s Ryan Hadden, placed fifth with 124 hits (109+15), followed by this year’s World Champion Marian Kovacocy of Slovakia, sixth with 123 hits (110+13).

Beijing’s Weather Modification office bombed the clouds and set up the artificial precipitation, the officer in charge said about yesterday’s exceptional snowfall

The intense snowfall that covered the Olympic Shooting Range of Beijing on Sunday, during the Trap and Skeet qualifications of the 2009 ISSF Shotgun World Cup Final, was not 100% natural. Over 16 millions of tons of snow fallen over the city were “produced” artificially.

Beijing’s Weather Modification Office worked on it, using the same system studied to prevent Beijing’s Olympic Games from the rain. This time, the Silver Iodidte used to “make it rain” was used to stop the heavy clouds on the sky of the city, as Beijing is suffering from the drought.

“We wont miss any opportunity of artificial precipitation since Beijing is suffering from the lingering drought” said Ms. Zhang Qiang, in charge of the Weather Modification office to the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

“We have used a total of 186 doses of silver iodide since 8:00 p.m. on Saturday,” she said “adding 16 million tonnes of snow to the preliminary calculation.”

“Sounds great! I had never shot before in the snow…” ironically commented Beijing’s Olympic Champion Vincent Hancock, from the USA, who yesterday competed under an extraordinary snowfall. “I cannot believe it!” Added Danka Bartekova, the Slovakian finalist of yesterday’s Skeet Women event.

“You might say it’s just bad luck – said Norway’s Tore Brovold, Skeet Silver medallist at the last Games – But this Final comes late in the season, they should have known that we were going to face a difficult weather here. You can get used to shoot in the snow, but it takes time and training. And this is the first snow of the season, for me. I come from Norway, what about the others? During the snowfall, yesterday, the visibility was very poor. Today the sun is shining, but it’s not much better due to the fastidious light-reflection…”

“It has been great anyway! - siad the Indian Double Trap ace Ronjan Sodhi smiling – I had never seen the snow before in my life! I was hoping to see snow at the 2007 World Cup Final in Belgrade, and at the 2008 Wolrd Cup Final in Minsk, but it did not come… so, this is my first time!”
“Of course,  he competed on saturday, before the snowfall!” somebody noted.

In spite of the severe snowfall that affected today’s qualifications, Germany’s Christine Wenzel (Christine Brinker before her marriage) won the Skeet Women Final shooting-off Italy’s Spada to secure the Gold medal.

Christine Wenzel of Germany claimed Gold at the Skeet Women Final by outdoing Italy’s Katiuscia Spada in a shoot-off that took place in the snow. Beijing was covered by 30 centemeters of fresh snow overnight, and an intense snowfall disturbed today’s qualification.

The German athlete climbed all the way to the highest step of the podium starting form the fourth place after the qualification. The snowfall and the severe weather conditions did not seem to impress her much, as she shot the highest final score of 21 hits out of 25 targets, tying the qualification’s leader, Italy’s Spada, at the last satiation.

Wenzel, the reigning World Champion, did not miss the chance to finish upon the last podium of the season. Italy’s Spada walked in the shoot-off in first, missing both the targets. Wenzel regrouped for a moment, and then called her shoot-off targets. Shooting calmly, she hit just the low-house clay, ignoring the second bird. “I completely forgot it! – She exclaimed right after the shoot-off – I saw Spada had missed both, so I decided to concentrate only on one target. That was enough to win. As I hit the low-hose clay I though: I won! And I completely forgot the other one. I am so happy!”

Wenzel, 28-year old, an Olympic Bronze medallist of Beijing, had won the 2008 ISSF World Championship in Maribor, last July, and topped the season by winning today’s Gold with a total score of 90+1 hits. “This is a beautiful day! – said Wenzel – Actually, this has been a great year. I just got married with Tino, and I am really satisfied of my sport results.”

While Italy’s Spada placed in second winning Silver with 90+0 hits, the Russian shooter Svetlana Demina secured Secured Bronze with 89+1 hits after outdoing USA’s Caitlin Connor in shoot-off.

The day-1 of the Skeet Men and Trap Men qualifications took place under a severe snowfall that covered Beijing’s Olympic shooting range with 30 centimetres (12 inches) of fresh snow.

Today’s competition took place under a surprising snowfall, making the match harder for those athletes who are not used to train in a freezing snowstorm. The Trap and Skeet Men shooters started their qualifications for tomorrow’s finals, walking in and out the ranges to let the personnel to shove the facilities.

At the end of the first qualification day, Cyprus9 Georgios Achilleos and France’s Anthony Terras lead the Skeet Men ranking with 74 targets, followed by the Olympic Champion of Beijing 2008 Vincent Hancock of the USA “It’s freezing out there!” commented Hancock between the qualification rounds “I had never shoot an international competition under the snow, before! I could not imagine to come back to Beijing with this weather…”

Italy’s Giovanni Pellielo leads the Trap Men provisory ranking, with 73 hits out of 75 targets. Two targets behind him, Michael Diamond of Australia follows in second with 71 hits.

The final rounds will tale place tomorrow afternoon, to conclude the 2009 ISSF World Cup Final in Beijing. Check the schedule, don’t miss the live broadcast on ISSF TV!

An extraordinary snowfall covered Beijing’s shooting range of fresh snow. The home shooter Liu Yingzi did not give up and secured Gold with five targets of advantage on her frozen opponents.

Minus three Celsius degrees, 30 centimetres of fresh snow, and an extraordinary snowfall: today’s Trap women final and, more generally, the whole day of competition, took place under these severe weather conditions.

China’s Liu Yingzi, a 2007 World Champion, did not seem impressed about the snow. The 38-year old shooter climbed in the lead since the first qualification rounds, walking into the final with a consistent advantage of 7 targets on the other finalists.

Nobody could catch the leader up: while the sport venue’s personnel was shovelling the snow off the final range, Liu managed her margin on the followers, ending up on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 84 hits (69+15). The Chinese shooter had finished in third at the 2007 edition and in second at last year’s Final in Minsk, and today’s was her first time on the highest step of an ISSF World Cup Final.

Five targets behind her, Slovakia’s Zuzana Stefecekova climbed from the fifth place after the qualification to win Silver with a total of 79 hits, shooting the highest final score of today’s match, 18 targets. The Olympic Silver medallist of the last Games had won the 2004 World Cup Final in Maribor, and then placed in second at the 2006 World Cup Final in Granada.

Snow turned in favour of the Olympic Champion, the Finnish shooter Satu Makela-Nummela, used to train in these weather conditions. She made it into the final with the lowest qualification score, 60 hits, climbing then up to the third place with 15 hits. As she tied Germany’s Susanne Kiermayer, the two shooters had to pass through a shoot-off to decide the Bronze medal. Kiermayer shot first, missing her clay in the windy snowfall, letting the Olympic Champion win the Bronze with t a total score of 75+1 hits.

At the same time, snow dropped the chances of victory of the 17-year old World Champion, Italy’s Jessica Rossi, competing here in her first ISSF World Cup Final. Rossi, one of the most favourites shooter to finish on Beijing podium, struggled throughout the all final, clearly suffering the freezing wind blowing on the range. “It was extremely cold, not to talk about the visibility…” She hit 9 out of 15 targets through the final round, placing in fifth with a total of 72+1 hits as she outdid China’s Lu Xingyu in a shoot-off.