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“I like the new rules” said the Italian winner, commenting on the new ISSF rules “I knew what the others were doing, that extra pressure pushed me to give my best!”

Italy’s Marco Badaracchi, 26, from Rome, made it into the final round in the lead, with a qualification score of 587 points that gave him a 3-point head start over his followers.

The young Italian shooter, awarded European Champion at the beginning of the seasons, had qualified for this World Cup Final last June, when he had won the ISSF World Cup Stage held in Belgrade.

By firing a frustrating 8.7 on his sixth competition shot, the Italian athlete jeopardized his victory. “It can happen” The Italian said. In spite of the pressure pumping, and of the tension playing on his nerves, Badaracchi recovered immediately with a 10.3 shot, finishing then the match in first place with a total score of 687.0 points and more than one point of advantage on his followers

“I like the new rules, I knew what was happing around me, while the final was going on” Badaracchi said after the final, commenting on the new ISSF rule introduced here in Munich. After every competition shot, a speaker announces the scores, the placement and the gap from the lead of every finalists, commenting on their results.

“Thanks to the speaker, I knew Yunusmetov was firing great shots and climbing up the scoreboard. The extra pressure of knowing what he was doing boosted me to perform at my best” The Italian continued “In any other sport you know what you’re competitor is doing. It’s now the same even in shooting, that’s a good news”.

“After the European Championship and the World Cup, my next aim is to secure an Olympic Quota Place, a ticket to London 2012!”  Badaracchi concluded wearing the Gold medal

In the spotlights, Rashid Yunusmetov of Kazakhstan finished again between the bests, surprising the spectators with an extraordinary result in the final round. The 31-year old shooter, ranked 13^th in the world, had won a Silver medal at this year’s ISSF World Cup Stage in Fort Benning, qualifying for this event.

Entering today’s final match with 581 points in eighth and last place, he climbed up the scoreboard with 104.8 points, today’s highest final, a extraordinary score. Closing his round with a 10.6, the Kazakh shooter claimed the Silver medal with a total of 685.8 points, winning his first World Cup Final medal ever.

The current World Champion, Matsuda Tomoyuki, a hero of the 2010 ISSF World Championship (two titles won in two different pistol events), was the protagonist of another excellent performance, today. Entering the final with the lowest qualification score (581 points), the 34-year old Japanese champion climbed up in third, securing the Bronze with a total score of 682.8 points, after scoring 101.8 points in the final.

Today’s turned out to be an unlucky final for the 2008 Olympic Silver medallist, Korea’s Jin Jong Oh. , Walking into the final match in third with a qualification score of 584 points, he eventually landed in fifth place with 682.2 points, just sixth tenths of a point far from the podium.

Jin had won the 2009 ISSF World Cup Final held in Wuxi, and arrived here in Munich after winning a World Cup Stage’s gold at the beginning of the season and a World Championship in Bronze, last August.

The 2000 Olympic Champion Franck Dumoulin of France followed him in sixth place, while India’s hope Omkar Singh (winner of a World Cup’s Silver in Sydney this year) closed the match in seventh place.

A medal to wear, a present for his beloved one, and an energizing handshake with his idol Sergey Bubka, these were the ingredients of Denys Kushnirov’s greatest day.

Winning a Youth Olympic Gold it’s an outstanding achievement by itself. But if at the same time you also meet your idol, and find the right birthday present for your girlfriend, well, there are good chances that the day it’s going to turn into the best of your life.

This is what Denys Kushnirov probably though after winning today’s 10m Air Pistol Men event at the Youth Olympic Games of Singapore, while dedicating the title to his beloved one.

“This is for Anastasia. My girlfriend!” the 17-year old from Dnipropetrovsk said kissing the Gold medal. “Yesterday it was her birthday. I could not get a better present for her than this victory!”

Kushnirov always wears a silver ring on his right hand which Anastasia gave him, and the right-handed marksman never parts with it, switching it to his left hand when he holds his air pistol.

He had to fight to get on the highest step of the podium, today. Qualified with 578 points, he walked into the final round in the lead, but had to defend his first place from Brazil’s Felipe Almeida Wu, following him a few tens of a point behind.

Totalizing 98.3 points throughout the ten-shot final round, Kushnirov eventually secured the Youth Olympic Champion title with a total score of 676.3 points, leaving his opponents just 0.3 points behind him.

“It has been difficult, but I knew I could make it!” said Kushnirov, who had already proved his skills a few months ago, by winning the European Championship in Meraker “My next aim? The London Olympic Games! I want to go there and win!”

As Ukraine’s National anthem was fading out, the best surprise walked into the hall: Sergey Bubka, Ukraine’s most successful sportsman, a pole vault legend chosen as Athlete Role Model by the IOC, came to shake Kushnirov hand.

“Sergey Bubka is my idol! I am so happy and honoured that he came to see me after the final!” Kushnirov said, at the end of the best day of his life.

“This is why the Youth Olympic Games are great. We have the chance to meet the champions of tomorrow!” Sergey Bubka said right after the final “It has been a tight and impressive match. I had to congratulate with the winner!”

The Silver medal went to Felipe Almeida Wu of Brazil, who closed in second place with a total score of 676.0 (576+100.0) points. Following him, the Korean ace Choi Daehan landed in third place grabbing the Bronze medal with 671.6 (571+100.6) points.

Today’s turned out to be an unlucky final for Czech Republic’s Jindrich Dubovy, who dropped from the third place down to the sixth, after firing a frustrating last shot of 8.6 points, leaving the fourth and the fifth places to Belarus’ Aliaksei Horbach and to Germany’s Philipp Kaefer, respectively.

Boosted by his victory in the Free Pistol event, Matsuda won the 10m Air Pistol final, securing his second gold medal in this championship.

Matsuda Tomoyuki won his second consecutive title at the ISSF World Championship in all shooting events, securing today’s 10m Air Pistol Men Gold medal just 48 hours after winning the brightest medal and an Olympic pass at the 50m Pistol Men final.

After qualifying for the medal match with 586 points, Matsuda shot a great average throughout the ten-shot final, duelling neck and neck against Korea’s 2008 Olympic Silver medallist Jin Jong Oh and Serbia’s Andrija Zlatic. The 34-year old Japanese shooter from Yokhoama climbed from the fourth position he had on the start list after the qualifications thanks to the best final score, 103.4 points, eventually finishing in first place with a total of 689.4 points.

Matsuda, who was ranked 60^th in the World in this event, was not enlisted between the favourites. Probably boosted by his victory in the 50m Pistol competition, the Japanese athlete scored his best result ever, today, renewing his wishes for the 2012 Olympic Games: “I want to fulfil my Olympic dream, now!”

Serbia’s Zlatic eventually finished in second place with a total score of 689.2 (590+99.2) points, grabbing the second ISSF World Championship Silver medal of his career (he had already finished on the podium at the 2002 Championship held in Lahti, Finland).

The third contender, Korea’s Olympic multi-medallist Jin Jong Oh, a world record holder who was rated between those favourite to finish on the podium, finished in third place, securing the Bronze medal and a Quota Place (a 2012 Olympic pass) just one tenth behind Zlatic with 689.1 (587+102.1) points. The 30-year old Olympic Champion of Beijing 2008 became therefore the second Korean athlete to qualify for the London 2012 Games, after his 21-year teammate Lee Daemyung who secured the first Quota two days ago by finishing on the 50m Pistol’s podium.

Six Olympic Quota Places for the 2012 Games were distributed in this final match. Matsuda and Zlatic had already won a Quota at the 50m Pistol Men Final, and they were not eligible to win a second one, therefore all the other finalists obtained a Quota pass. Next to Jin Jong Oh, an Olympic qualification card was granted to Sergey Chervyakovskiy of Russia (fourth with 685.5 points), to Yusuf Dikec of Turkey (fifth with 681.4+9.8 points), to Portugal’s Joao Costa (sixth with 681.4+9.7 points), to Ukrain’s Ivan Bidnyak (seventh with 681.3 points) and to Damir Mikec, from Serbia, eighth with 678.7 points.

The 25-year old Italian shooter won Gold with a thin margin of 0.2 points on the 2000 Olympic Champion Franck Dumoulin. Badaracchi aims now to the World Championship, and to the furst 2012 Olympic Quota Places.

It was Italy’s Mauro Badaracchi who won today’s 10m Air Pistol Men event, in the second competition day of the ISSF World Cup in Rifle and Pistol events in Belgrade (SRB).
The Italian shooter landed on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 685.9 points, beating France’s Franck Dumoulin by 0.2 points, and Russia’s Vladimir Isakov by 1.1 points.

“I made a couple of mistakes during the final, and I did not believe that I was in the lead, after the last shot. I was just hoping to be in the top three… the final result surprised me!” said Badaracchi right after the last shot. The 25-year old shooter from Rome had started the match in the lead with the highest qualification score of 586 points, but then he had been shooting in the ninth ring more then once throughout the final round.

“This was the first time I ever started a final in first place. I must confess that I was nervous, I was feeling the pressure and shaking a little bit” explained the Gold medallist, who closed the final round with a disappointing 9.2 shot, which after all turned out to be enough to keep the France shooter Dumoulin 0.2 points behind him.

“I am so happy to be back on the highest step of an ISSF podium, two years after my first victory – concluded the Italian athlete, who had won his first (and last) ISSF Gold at the 2008 World Cup held in Rio de Janeiro – I would like to dedicate this victory to my coach Marco Masetti and to my family!”

“I am looking forward to the World Championship, now – added Badaracchi before wearing the Gold – I hope that this medal will help me to give my best there, where the first 2012 Olympic Quota Places will be assigned!”.

Badaracchi’s victory upset the 2000 Olympic Champion, France’s 37-year old ISSF multi-medallist Franck Dumoulin, who landed on the second step of the podium. The French champion had started the match in third place with a qualification score of 585 points. Then, firing today’s highest final score, 100.7 points, he climbed up in second, eventually claiming the Silver with a total of 685.7 points, jut 0.2 points less then what scored by Badaracchi.

The 2004 Olympic Bronze medallist, Russia’s 40-year old ace shooter Vladimir Isakov, followed them in third place with a total score of 684.8 points. The Russian shooter, who had started in second place, fought against Dumoulin right to the last shot, sliding then in third place as he fired a frustrating tenth shot of 9.5 points.

USA’s Daryl Szarenski, who had finished in the spotlight during the previous three ISSF World Cup stages in Sydney, Beijing and Fort Benning, where he had won two Gold, one Silver and one Bronze medals, ended up today’s final in fourth place. Finishing with a total score of 683.5 points, he missed the podium by 1.3 points. Another top shooter, Serbia’s Damir Mikec, 26, the current World Ranke leader in this event, participated in the final, eventually finishing in fifth place behind Szarenski. The home shooter, who had won the Gold at the previous World Cup stage in Fort Benning and the Silver at the World Cup stage in Beijing, closed today’s round with a total score of 682.9 points.

The American shooter won his second consecutive Gold medal. Serbia’s Damir Mikec took Silver, followed in third by Russia’s Valdimir Isakov.

USA’s Daryl Szarenski won his second consecutive medal here at the ISSF World Cup in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events in Beijing.

The American shooter claimed Gold at the 10m Air Pistol Men event, finishing for the second time on the highest step of the podium after his victory at the 50m Pistol Men event, two days ago.

The 42-year old athlete made it into the final with one of the lowest qualification score, 583 points, and then climbed up in the lead shot after shot, firing today’s highest score, 103.2 points, for a total of 686.2 points. Szarenski had made it to the podium also at the first ISSF World Cup Stage of the season, in Sydney, in March, where he had won a Bronze.

The qualifications’ leader, Russia’s expert Olympian Vladimir Isakov, slid down in the placements during the final round. Starting the match with a disappointing 8.6 on his third final shot, he fired more than once in the ninth ring, finishing in third place with 685.5 points (587+98.5) and the Bronze medal.

Isakov was overtaken by Serbia’s Damir Mikec, who landed on the second step of the podium winning Silver with a total score of 685.9 (585+100.9) points.

Ukraine’s two-time World Cup Gold medallist Oleg Omelchuk took the fourth place with 684.6 points, followed by Armenia’s Norayr Bakhtamyan and by the Chinese hope Shi Xinglong with 683.8 and 683.3 points, respectively.

Slovakia’s Pavol Kopp ended up in seventh, with 682.8 points, and Russia’s Denis Koulakov in eighth with 682.4 points.