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The 22-year old beat Germany’s Pfeilschifter in a shoot-off for Gold. The young Chinese record holder had won her first ISSF medal here in Fort Benning, one year ago.

“This is a magic place for me! All started here, one year ago.” the winner of today’s 10m Air Rifle Women event, China’s Yi Siling, said right after the match.

Entering the match in fifth place with 398 points, one point behind her leading opponents, she moved up in the scoreboard by shooting 104.0 points in the final.

Closing the final match with an overall score of 502.0 points, she had to shoot-off against Germany’s ISSF multi-medallist Sonja Pfeilschifeter – outdoing her 10.3 to 10.1 – to climb upon the highest step of the podium.

Yi had won the ISSF World Cup held here in Fort Benning one year ago, and that victory – her first ISSF Gold medal – boosted her for the upcoming 2010 ISSF World Championship, where she won the title by setting a new, great final world record of 505.6 points.

“I am focusing on the next championship now, I would like to win the next World Cup as well!” the 22-year old said. The next ISSF World Cup Stage will be held in Munich, Germany, where the young athlete won the World Championship last year, qualifying to participate in the next 2012 Olympic Games in London.

“Winning the Games is my highest goal. Of course it won’t be easy, and I don’t even know how many selection matches I still have to go through before I can say I made the Olympic team. But I will try my best!”

While Germany’s Pfeilschifter was awarded the Silver with 502.0 + 10.1 points after the shoot-off, the Bronze medal went to Italy’s Petra Zublasing, 21, who finished on the podium with 501.8 (399+102.8) points. Zublasing also secured an Olympic Quota Place, a pass to the next 2012 Olympics in London.

The second and the third Olympic Quota Places to be awarded by the ISSF at today’s final were secured by Denmark’s Stine Nielsen – who finished in fourth with 500.9 (399+101.9) points – and by Austria’s Stephanie Obermoser – fifth with 500.8 (398+102.8) points.

Three Olympic Quota Places were awarded to the medallists: Croatia’s Pejcic, Iran’s Ahmadi and Ukraine’s Tykhova.

The 2008 Olympic Bronze medallist, Croatia’s Snjezana Pejcic won the opening match of the 2011 ISSF World Cup in Sydney, the 10m Air Rifle Women event.

The Croatian shooter secured the Gold medal and an Olympic Quota place with a total score of 502.6 points, winning a close final played on the thin line of tenths. Entering the final match in the lead with a qualification score of 399 hits, the 28-year old shooter marked 103.6 points throughout the final round, finishing on the highest step of the podium with 0.4 points of advantage on her followers.

Three Olympic Quota places had to be assigned at today’s 10m Air Rifle Women Final, the first match of this year’s ISSF Combined World Cup in Sydney, Australia.

The second Quota and the Silver medal went to Iran’s Elaheh Amadi, an unexpected protagonist of today’s match. The 28-year old athlete, ranked 48th in the world, had never made it to a World Cup final round, before. Qualified with 399 points, tied to Pejcic, she shot consistently throughout the whole match, securing a spot on the podium with a total of 502.2 points.

The 2010 European Champion, Serbia’s Andrea Arsovic, also had started the match with the highest qualification score, 399 points. But, after the first five shots, the Serbian shooter sled down in the placements, closing her round in sixth place with a frustrating 9.6 last shot.

The third Olympic Quota place went so to Ukraine’s flag bearer Darya Tykhova, 25-year old, who did not miss the chance to pocket the Bronze medal. The young athlete started the round with a qualification score of 398 points, just one point behind the leading trio. But then, shooting a consistent final of 103.6 points, she climbed up in third, finishing on the podium with 501.7 points. Tykhova, a 2005 Junior European Champion, had already qualified to represent Ukraine at the 2008 Games, finishing then in twentieth place.

The six-time World Cup medallist Wu Liuxi of China closed the match in fourth with 501.2 points. She had already won an Olympic Quota at last year’s ISSF World Championship in Munich. Her 22-year old teammate Xie Jieqiong followed in fifth place with 501.1 points, while Czech Republic’s Adela Sykorova and Germany’s Barbara Lechner ended up in seventh and sixth palce with 500.5 and 499.6 points, respectively.

More than 700 shooters coming from 68 countries are competing in these days in Sydney, where the second leg of this year’s ISSF World Cup Series is held. The competition, which started today, will last right to the 31st of March. Fifteen events are scheduled, and 34 Olympic Quota places, the “entrance tikets” to the Games” will be assigned throughout the championship.

Less then 24 hours to go to the first rifle shot of the first Youth Olympic Games. Nervous, nail-bitten fingers have been triggering all day, training on the new shooting lines of the Singapore Sports School, where the first shooting competition will take place tomorrow morning at 9 AM.

Rifles have been tested. Air cylinders filled and emptied again. Targets were checked, and equipments controlled. All is ready, at the Singapore Sports School, for the debut of the Shooting Sport at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games!

The 10m Air Rifle Junior Men event, taking place tomorrow morning, will be the first shooting match of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games. Twenty shooters,aging 17 and 18 years will compete, pursuing their Olympic Dream on the lines of the newly constructed range of the Sports School.

The match will start at 9.00 AM and, after sixty qualification shots, the best eight athletes will proceed to the 10-shot final round, the pathway to the podium.

Ukraine’s Serhiy Kulish, is probably one of the most experienced shooters among those competing tomorrow. The 17-year old athlete, who has been participating in international junior events since 2008, finished in the spotlights by claiming two Junior medals (a Silver and a Bronze) at the ISSF World Championship in Munich, last July.

Belarus’ Illia Charheika is also enlisted between the favourites. The 17-year old shooters made it into the Youth Olympic Games by becoming the 2010 European Junior Champion, but he also finished between the firsts at the 2010 ISSF World Cup in Belgrade, when he closed the 10m Air Rifle Men event in 11^th place competing against older champions in the open category.

Asian shooters such as Gao Ting Jie (CHN) and Kim Yong (KOR) will attempt to stop the European athletes from sweeping all the medals. Gao was the runner-up in the event at the Asian Championships in Doha in December 2009, and Kim said that claiming a gold medal, in his pet event, is his clear-cut goal at the Youth Olympic Games.

The only African shooter in the event, Egyptian Hossam Helmy, is poised to cause an upset. The Egyptian ruled the African Youth Qualification Championships in Algeria, last March, , and has shown consistency during practice sessions since he arrived in Singapore.

The results of the match, starting at 9 AM Singapore Time, will be posted on the YOG results page

Minimum visible size of target card: width: 170mm height: 170mm

ISSF Target 10M Air Rifle

ISSF Target 10M Air Rifle

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