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Belarus’ Martynov won the 50m Rifle Prone match in Munihc, claiming the title on the same lines where he had won the World Championship just two months ago.

The “best prone shooter of the world”, the current World Champion and world rank’s leader, Belarus’ Sergey Martynov, did not delude his fans, and nailed another extraordinary victory today, claiming the 2010 ISSF World Cup Final gold medal after an intense match.

The 42-year old Belarusian shooter made it into the final with an unbeatable qualification score of 600 points, equalling the world record for the sixth time in his career, and becoming the shooter with the highest number of equalled world records in this event. Then, shooting solidly, he managed his advantage over the followers by scoring 103.2 points throughout the ten-shot final, ending with the Gold with 703.2 points.

“Five years ago I’ve lost a Gold medal in spite of entering the final with an equalled world record, so nothing was sure, after the qualifications.” Martynov commented after the final match, remembering the 2005 ISSF World Cup Final held here in Munich the 26^th of August of five years ago, when he eventually ended up in second place “Finals are always difficult. I really did not make anything special to prepare myself, I just shot as good as I could.”

This victory concluded Martynov’s great season. In spite of struggling to finish on the podium of the first world cup stages of the year, the 42-year old Belarusian shooter proved to be the best prone shooter of the world at the last ISSF World Championship, held here in Munich last August. Shooting on the same lines, he won the World Champion title, becoming the first athlete of the ISSF history to win two World Championship Rifle Prone gold medals (he had led also the 2006 edition in Zagreb).

The next aim? “I am shooting for Gold, and the focus is now on the Olympic Games”, as Martynov had said here in Munich. After winning five World Cup Finals and two World Championships, Sergei wants indeed to go for the only trophy he is missing, the most important, the Olympic Gold.

Martynov turned out to be unreachable, today, but the last three shots of the match kept the spectator’s breath, as they decided the podium placements behind the champion, with four shooters ending up with a difference of 0.7 points, tenths of a millimetre on a 50m Rifle Prone target.

105.7 points, today’s best final score, were not enough to grab the Gold medal. Norway’s Vebjoern Berg, the title defender, winner of the 2009 World Cup Final in Wuxi, qualified in seventh place with 596 points, and then climbed up the scoreboard with a series of excellent shots. Fighting against Starik, Rothmund and Junghaenel throughout the whole final round, he totalized that outstanding final score, and eventually landed in second place thanks to a last shot of 10.6 points, with a total score of 701.7 points.

Germany’s Henri Junghaenel, 22-year old, one of the youngest participants, followed him in third place. He had qualified to participate in this ISSF World Cup Final by finishing on the podium of the Beijing’s World Cup Stage, where he had won his first world cup medal ever.  Starting today’s final in second place with 598 points, he fought against Berg since the first shots, sliding then in third place at the last shot, where he landed with 701.5 points and the Bronze.

Junghaenel beat by 0.1 points the second German shooter, his teammate Armin Rothmund, whose best World Cup placement had been a fifth place at this year’s Fort Benning’s Stage. The 31-year old athlete eventually ended up in fourth place, with a last shot of 10.1, and a total score of 701.4 points, just 0.1 far from the first international podium of his career.

Following just tenths behind them, the experienced Israeli champion Guy Starik, 45, finished in fifth place. Qualified for the final match in third place with a qualification score of 597 points, he duelled against the two German teammates and the Norwegian Silver medallist right to the end, eventually finishing in fifth place with 701.0 points.

Australia’s Warren Potent, USA’s Joseph Hein and India’s Joydeep Karmar closed the match in sixth, seventh and eighth place, respectively.

Germany’s Pfeilschifter and Gauss duelled right to the last shot for the 2010 ISSF World Cup title in the 10m Air Rifle Women event

It has been the last shot to decide the podium placements of the 10m Air Rifle Women final, at the ISSF World Cup Final in Rifle and Pistol event in Munich, where a German duel kept the Bavarian spectator breathless right to the end.

The two home ahtletes, Germany’s Beate Gauss and Sonja Pfeilschifter, from Baden and Bavaria respectively, fought throughout the whole final match, trying to secure the brightest medal tenth after tenth.

Gauss, who had made it into the final with a great world record score of 400 points, had a one-point lead over her teammate Pfeilschifter after the qualifications. But, as the final match started, the two German shooters exchanged their positions in first and second place several times.

After the ninth shot, it was Gauss who was leading with 0.9 points of advantage. But it was then the tenth and last shot that decided the match in favour of Pfeilschifeter, who scored an outstanding 10.7 beating Gauss’s 9.4, triggering the applauses of the Bavarian audience.

Sonja Pfeilschifer, 39, secured the title with a total score of 503.5 points, winning her fourth World Cup Final on the lines of the 1972 Olympic Shooting Range of Munich (she had won three consecutive World Cup Final editions held here in 1999, 2000 and 2001).

26-year old Beate Gauss, ranked third in the world, had qualified for this year’s ISSF World Cup Final by securing a Bronze medal at the World Cup Stage held in Beijing, and by competing in the World Championship final match. During the morning’s qualifications, she ranked first with a great 400-point score, but after firing that disappointing 9.4-shot she landed in second place, grabbing the Silver medal with a total of 503.1 points, just two tenths far from Pfeilschifter.

While the two home shooters were duelling for the top of the podium, the battle for Bronze kept the TV spectator’s breath. Katerina Emmons of Czech Republic, Eliana Nardelli of Italy and Jamie Bayerle of USA fought indeed right to the end for the last spot on Munich’s podium.

The 2008 Olympic Champion Katerina Emmons came back to an ISSF World Cup Final after missing since 2007. The Czech shooter qualified to participate in this match by winning a World Cup Stage in Sydney, at the beginning of the season. With 397 qualification points, she made it into the final match in third place, but then closed the round in fifth with a total of 498.6 points after nailing two consecutive 9.8 shots.

The battle for Bronze finished in a shoot-off between Elania Nardelli, today’s youngest finalist, and USA’s Jamie Beyerle, one of the protagonists of this year’s ISSF World Cup Series.

And it was the experienced Beyerle who secured the Bronze, winning the shoot-off 10.5 to 9.8, finishing on the podium with a total of 499.2 + 10.5 points, and leaving Nardelli in fourth with a total score of 499.2 + 9.8 points.

Russia’s Sokolov won his second World Cup Final title, stealing the show of the 2010 World Champion Campriani. Sidi third, while the two Indian Narang and Rajput had to shoot-off in fourth place.

Denis Sokolov or the Russian Federation won the 10m Air Rifle Men final at the ISSF World Cup Final in Munich, claiming his second World Cup title five year after his victory at the 2005 ISSF World Cup Final

The 27-year old Russian shooter, a member of the CSKA team, placed in first by shooting 104.5 points throughout the final, after qualifying in the lead with a score of 597 points with a one-point head start on the 2010 World Champion Campriani of Italy.

Thanks to two consecutive 10.8-shot fired on his seventh and eighth competition shots, the Russian athlete archived his victory by putting two points of advantage between himself and his followers, and ended up on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 701.5 points.

Sokolov, a World Record holder ranked fifth in the World, had finished in the spotlights at the beginning of the season, when he secured a Bronze medal at the European Championship held in Meraker. Then, the rifle shooter qualified to compete in this year’s ISSF World Cup Final by winning Beijing’s World Cup Stage and by finishing on the podium of the Belgrade’s Stage, this year.

Campriani’s perfect ninth shot of 10.9 points was not enough to catch up Sokolov. The 2010 World Champion Niccolò Campriani of Italy, world’s top ranked shooter, ended up in second place with a total score of 698.7 points. The Italian shooter, 22-year old, had started the match with a qualification score of 596 hits, and his final score of 102.7 points could not stand Sokolov’s outstanding 104.5-point final.

The Bronze medal went to Hungary’s Peter Sidi, 32-year old. The Hungarian shooter, second at the ISSF World Championship held here last August, turned out to be 100% satisfied about his performance. Qualified with 595 points, he scored 103.3 points throughout the final, finishing in third with a total of 698.3 points.

“I made no mistakes, in this final. We are all tired, at this point of the season, and it’s easy to miss a medal in these conditions” Sidi said.

“I have been preparing myself for the 50m Rifle Three Position event! See you there in two days!” concluded Sidi, wearing the Bronze.

The 10m Air Rifle match was closed by a shoot-off between the two Indian teammates Gagan Narang (27) and Sanjeev Rajput (29). The two Indian shooters fought right to the end to find a spot on the podium, before being overtaken by Sidi, eventually finishing in ending up tied in fourth with a total score of 697.8 points. It was then Narang who secured the fourth place by firing a 10.1 to Rajput 9.7 shot, in spite of a problem with the cheek plate of his stock.

USA’s Daryl Szarenski closed the 2010 ISSF World Cup Series on the highest step of the podium, securing the World Cup title with more than 5 points of advantage on his followers.

“This has definitively been my best season ever!” The American pistol shooter Daryl Szarenski said right after the last shot of today’s 50m Pistol Men competition.

Qualified in first place with a score of 565 points, and with three points of advantage on his followers, the 42-year old American shooter played an excellent final, marking 97.5 points, and claiming the Gold medal with a total score of 662.5 points.

Szarenski has been one of the main protagonists of this 2010 ISSF World Cup Series, by entering almost every final match throughout the season, and finishing four times on the podium (two Gold medals at the World Cup stage in Beijing, a Silver in Fort Benning and a Bronze in Sydney).

“Every year I try to slowly improve my performance, working step by step. But this season has been extraordinary,” Szarenskiu said after nailing the Gold “I only have some regrets for the World Championship. I could have shot a medal, there.” Continued the American shooter, who had placed in sixth at the 2010 World Championship held here in Munch last August.

“Next aim? To do my best throughout the 2011 season, and go for an Olympic medal in 2012!” Szarenski concluded.

The Silver medal went to the Bronze medallist of the 2008 Olympic Games, Russia’s pistol ace shooter Vladimir Isakov. The 40-year old shooter, who had qualified for this World Cup Final by winning a Bronze medal at the ISSF World Cup Stage held in Belgrade, ended up in second place with a total score of 657.0 points, just two tenths more than what marked by the Bronze medallist Matzuda.

The World Champion of Munich 2010, Japan’s Matsuda Tomoyuki, confirmed to be in great athletic conditions by placing in third after a breathtaking final match. The 34-year old shooter fought against Slovakia’s Kopp throughout the first part of the final round, moving then in third place thanks to an excellent 10.6 fired on his fifth competition shot.

From there on, Matsuda tried his best to catch up Isakov in second place, but ten shots turned out to be not enough to reach the Russian champion. Matsuda ended up in third, just two tenths shy of securing the Silver, and was awarded the Bronze medal with a total score of 656.8 points.

Russia’s young champion Leonid Ekimov, 23, a World Championship junior multi-medallist, placed in fourth, following the leading trio with a total of 654.7 points. Three points behind him, Armenia’s Norayr Bakhtamyan placed in fifth with 651.3 points, while the home shooter Abdullah Ustaoglu, shooting for Germany, landed in sixth place with 651.0 points after shooting-off Slovakia’s Kopp, seventh today.

The first Gold medal of the 2010 ISSF World Cup Final went to Russia’s Kira Klimova, winner of the 10m Air Pistol Women event.

The 10m Air Pistol Women event opened the 2010 ISSF World Cup Final in Rifle and Pistol events in Munich, the conclusive World Cup stage of the 2010 seasons.

This was the first final round to take place with the new warm-up and athletes presentation rules. The athletes performed their preparation, sighting time and warm-up, and then they put their pistol down and turned their faces to the spectators, to be presented by the speakers. The first competition shot followed immediately after.

It was Russia’s Kira Klimova to win the 10m Air Pistol Women title. The 27-year old shooter, qualified thanks to a Silver medal won at this year’s World Cup Stage of Fort Benning (USA), placed in first with a total score of 484,7 points.

Qualified in third with 384 points, the Russian shooter climbed up the scoreboard by marking 100.7 points throughout the final round, ending up on the highest step of the podium with a 0.7 points advantage on the Silver medallist, Belarus’ Viktoria Chaika, second with 484.0 points.

Chaika and Klimova fought throughout the first part match, shooting neck and neck since the first competition shot. It was after the fifth shot that Klimova moved up in the lead, thanks to an excellent 10.5 that lifted her on the highest step of the podium.

This has been “the best season” of Klimova’s sport career. Starting from the ISSF World Cup Stage in Fort Benning, where she claimed two Silver medals, she has been climbing up the world ranking, winning the 25m Pistol Women World Title last August, and closing her extraordinary year with today’s 10m Air Pistol Women World Cup.

France’s Celine Goberville (24-year old) winner of the last World Cup stage of the year in Belgrade, placed in third today, securing the Bronze medal with a total score of 483.3 points. Making it into the final in sixth place with 382 points, the young athlete climbed the scoreboard up to the podium by firing the final’s highest score, 101.3 points.

She was followed by the winner of this year’s World Cup stage held in Fort Benning, Kazakhstan’s Zauresh Baibussinova. Baibussinova had started the final match in the lead, with a qualification score of 387 points and a one-point head start on her followers. Kicking-off the final match with a 9.9 shot, the Kazakh shooter lost her advantage on the followers. But it was the second competition shot that pulled her down to the mid of the scoreboard. Firing a frustrating 8.1, the Kazakh shooter landed indeed in fourth place, where she eventually closed the match with a total score of 482.8 points.

Russia’s Liubov Yaskevich, 25, placed in fifth with 480.5 points, followed by this year’s World Champion, the 23-year old Serbian shooter Zorana Arunoivic, who kicked-off her World Cup Final in fourth place, with 383 points, ending then in sixth with 479.9 points.

The 2004 Olympic Champion of Athens, Olena Kostevych of Ukraine, and Australia’s Lalita Yauhleuskaya, closed the match in seventh and eight place, respectively.