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The two finalists duelled for Gold throughout the 10m Air Pistol Women medal match. Olympic Quotas to Sun (CHN), Park (KOR) and Aspandiyarova (AUS).

China’s 24-year old finalist Sun Qi and Ukraine’s 2004 Olympic Champion Olena Kostevych fought neck and neck right to the last shot, during today’s 10m Air Pistol Women event at the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea.

The two shooters walked into the final with an equal qualification score of 391 points, tied in first place. Then, they went back and forth in first and second place throughout the whole 10-shot final, duelling over decimals to secure the Gold medal.

Eventually, it was Sun Qi who secured the brightest medal with a total score of 489.9 points, with just 0.1 of advantage on Kostevych. With the Gold medal, the Chinese shooter was also awarded an Olympic Quota Place, a pass for the next 2012 Games. Sun had never won an ISSF medal, before, and her best international placement had been a second place at the 2010 Asian Games.

The 25-year old Ukrainian champion Kostevych, who had finished in third at the previous world cup stage in Sydney winning there an Olympic Quota, landed on the second step of today’s podium, pocketing the Silver with 489.8 points.

Georogia’s three-times Olympic medallist Nino Salukvadze, who had won the previous World Cup Stage in Sydney, ended up in third place winning the Bronze medal with 486.7 (385+101.7) points, after shooting today’s highest score in the final. Climbing to the podium, she overtook Belarus’ Viktoria Chaika, 30, who closed the match in fourth with 486.2 (387+99.2) points, and left behind Antoaneta Boneva of Bulgaria, fifth with 484.6 (384+100.6) points.

The other two Olympic Quota Places went to Korea’s Park and Australia’s Aspandiyarova. The home shooter Park Minjin, boosted by the numerous spectators following at Changwon’s Final Hall, finished in sixth place with 483.6 (385+98.6) points. At the same time, the Australian shooter Dina Aspandiyarova beat Denmark’s Susanne Meyerhoff in the hurdle for the last Olympic Quota available, pocketing it with a total score of 480.2 (385+95.2) points.

Serbia’s Andrija Zlatic won today’s 10m Air Pistol Men event at the 2011 ISSF Rifle & Pistol World Cup in Changwon, Korea, beating the home shooter Lee.

The 33-year old Pistol shooter climbed from the fourth place he had on the final’s start list by firing 100.9 points throughout the ten-shot final. Zlatic landed on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 688.9 points, securing the Gold medal with a narrow margin of eight tenths of advantage on his followers.

“This is my first World Cup medal ever, I am extremely happy.” The Serbian athlete said right after the match. Competing since 1990 and ranked second in the World in this event, Zlatic had indeed never placed better than fifth in an ISSF World Cup, before.

“I had been winning medals at the World and European Championship, but I had never found my way to an ISSF World Cup podium. I would say I am really satisfied!” Zlatic added, who had won an ISSF World Championship Silver medal last August in Munich.

Climbing in the lead, Zlatic disappointed the home shooter, Korea’s Lee Daemyung, who had started the match in first place after qualification rounds with 589 points. After firing a 9.3 and a 9.2 on his second and third final shots, the 22-year old Korean shooter landed in second place, pocketing the Silver medal with a total score of 688.1 points.

Lee had to fight to get on the second step of the podium. Since the first shots, he fought neck and neck against Ukraine’s Olympian Oleg Omelchuk. The 27-year old Ukrainian athlete held the second place right to the tenth and last shot, when he fired a frustrating 9.8 to Lee’s 10.3, finishing then in third place with a total of 687.9 points and the Bronze medal.

As the other finalists had already secured an Olympic Quota Place before, today’s 3 Olympic Quota Places went to France’s Walter Lapeyre, fifth with a total score of 686.3 points, to Serbia’s Dimitrije Grigic, eighth with 683.4 points and to the 1992 Olympic Champion of Barcelona Kanstantsin Lukashyk of Belarus, ninth with 584 points.

Sweden’s Paralympic shooter Jonas Jacobsson made it to today’s 50m Rifle Prone Men event, finishing in eighth place. He’s looking for an Olympic Quota place, after winning 16 Paralympic Gold.

The 16-time Paralympic Gold medallist Jonas Jacobsson, a 45-year old Swedish rifle shooter in a wheelchair, made it to his first ISSF World Cup final round today, entering the 50m Rifle Prone Men medal match at the 2011 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup taking place in Chagwon, Korea.

Jacobsson, probably one of the most successful Paralympic Rifle shooter, with 16 Gold medals won since 1984, and an impressive tally of 25 Paralympic medals, decided to challenge the ISSF World Cup champions, and started competing in the regular ISSF World Cup Series at the beginning of the season, at the ISSF WC Stage in Sydney.

His aim? To participate in the next Olympic Games. “I am looking for an Olympic Quota Place” Jacobsson said today. “Nothing less. This is only my second competition within the frame of the ISSF World Cup Series, and I made it to the final round, so I am quite confident for the future events.”

Qualified for the medal match with 593 points in eighth and last place, Jacobsson came as close as 0.2 points to Quota after his fifth final shot. Then, firing a couple of frustrating shots in the ninth ring, he ended up in eighth place with a total score of 693.4 points, three places far from qualifying for London 2012.

“I did not shoot at my best” The Swedish athlete said right after the final “It has nothing do to with the pressure of the match, I was just not at my best.”

“I will keep on chasing after a pass for London 2012, and therefore I will come to the next two ISSF World Cup Stages in Ft. Benning (USA) and Munich (GER), competing in the 50m Rifle Prone event;” he added.

“I have been winning a lot at the Paralympics, and I was looking for a new challenge” Jacobsson concluded.

“We are happy to see Jonas in a final” The ISSF Vice-President, Gary Anderson said after the match “We have been discussing about it with the International Paralympic Committee, and we agreed that Mr. Jacobsson comply with our 50m Rifle Prone regulations and can therefore participate in ISSF competitions, and that he’s eligible to win an Olympic Quota Place. We are looking forward to see him competing again in our Wold Cup Series.”

Next appointments? Jacobsson confirmed he will be at the next ISSF Rifle & Pistol World Cup Stage, kicking-off in Fort Benning, GA, USA, the next 14^th of May, trying to gain a spot in the London Games.

Five hundred shooters are competing in the third leg of the 2011 ISSF Wold Cup Series, held in Changwon, Korea, from the 7 through the 14 of April. The best shooters of the world came here trying to secure one of the 24 Olympic Quota Places to be assigned during this competition.

USA’s Uptegrafft and France’s Graff on the podium. Olympic Quotas to Korea’s Choi and Germany’s Eckhardt.

Reigning World Champion Sergei Martynov of Belarus won the 50m Rifle Prone Men event at the ISSF Rifle & Pistol World Cup in Changwon, Korea, today.

The two-time Olympic Bronze medallist, the current n. 1 in the world in this event, turned out to be unbeatable on Changwon’s lines, today.

Entering the final match with a qualification score of 598 points, with two points of a head start on his followers, he landed on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 700.4 points, after marking 102.4 points in the final.

Martynov, who had closed the 2010 season by winning the ISSF World Cup Final in Munich, is one of the most successful rifle shooters in activity. Today’s was his 21st World Cup medal, in this event, out of 45 participations since 1989.

Uptagrafft won the Silver medal duel

The American shooter Eric Uptagrafft secured the Silver medal with 699.6 points. Qualified with 596 points, Uptagrafft won the duel for the second step of the podium against France’s Graff by marking 103.6 points in the final, securing his second consecutive ISSF World Cup Silver medal. Ciryl Graff ended up with 698.0 points and the Bronze medal.

Highest final score and Olympic Quota to Korea’s Choi

The 30-year old home shooter Choi Young Jeon finished in fourth place, in spite of shooting today’s highest final score, 104.2 points. The Korean athlete had qualified with the lowest qualification score, 593 points, and finished 0.8 points behind Graff with a total score of 697.2 points. Enough to secure an Olympic Quota Place for his country, a chance to participate in the 2012 Games. The second Olympic Quota went to Germany’s Maik Eckhardt, fifth with 696.2 (593+103.2) points.

Following them, Yuriy Sukhorukov finished in sixth with 695.3 points, and Norway’s Ole Magnus Bakken in seventh with 694.5 points.

The 16-time Paralympic Gold medallist Jonas Jacobbson, taking part in his first ISSF World Cup final round today, closed the match in eighth place with 693.4 points.

China’s Chen Ying won the 25m Pistol Women event, securing an Olympic Quota Place, a pass to the next Games. Germany claimed the second Quota thanks to Munkhbayar Dorjsuren.

The 2008 Olympic Champion Chen Ying of China made it again. The 33-year old Chinese shooter won the 25m Pistol Women event at the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Changwon, Korea, securing a pass to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Chen walked into the final round with the highest qualification score, 589 points, and left few chances to her opponents.

Scoring 205.6 points in the final (four series over 50 points) the Chinese athlete increased her lead over the followers, finishing on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 794.6 points.

“I took two years off, after winning the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, as I had a daughter.” The Chinese shooter said after the award ceremony “I came back to  shooting last January, and being on the podium after just two months is very good for me.”

“I would like to dedicate this final to my daughter, she gives me a lot of positive energies!” Concluded the 13-time ISSF World Cup medallist Chen.

Two Chinese flags on the podium

The Chinese team cheered up for Yuan Jing, who secured today’s Silver medal by firing today’s highest final score, 206.3 points, and stepped on the podium next to her teammate Chen Ying. The 24-year old athlete finished in second with a total score of 791.3 points, climbing up from the fourth place she had on the start list after the qualifications. This was her second consecutive Silver medal, as she had finished in second also at the previous ISSF World Cup Stage in Sydney, two weeks ago.

Bronze to Bulgaria, Olympic Quota to Germany

Antonaeta Boneva, 25, won the Bronze medal with 791.2 (587+204.2) points, missing the Silver by only 0.1 points. The Bulgarian shooter had finished in third also at the previous World Cup Stage in Sydney.

As Boneva had already secured an Olympic Quota Place before, the second Olympic Quota went to Germany’s 41-year old Munkhbayar Dorjsuren. The Olympic Bronze medallist of Beijing 2008 and Barcelona 1992 secured a pass to the next 2012 London Games with a score of 788.5 (584 +204.4) points.

The winner of the previous World Cup Stage in Sydney, Olena Kostevych of Ukraine closed in sixth with 783.9 points, behind Mongolia’s Gundegmaa Otryad, fifth with 787.1 points.