After two Silver medals won in Sydney and Chanwgon, the Chinese shooter finally pocketed a Gold in Munich, beating the two-time Olympic Champ Maria Grozdeva of Bulgaria.

China’s Yuan Jing won today’s 25m Pistol Women Final at the 2011 ISSF World Cup in Munich, securing the brightest medal after the fourth final series.

Entering the final with in fifth place with a qualification score of 582 points, the 24-year old Chinese shooter climbed up the scoreboard by marking 205.8 points in the final.

Ending up with a final score of 787.8 points, Yuan, ranked fourth in the world after winning two Silver medals in Changwon and Sydney this year, finally climbed upon the highest step of the podium, pocketing the Gold medal.

Climbing in the lead, the Chinese finalist disappointed the two-time Olympic Champion, Maria Grozdeva, who had led the qualifications.

Qualified for the final with 584 points, tied in first place to Maruskova and Csonka, the Bulgarian athlete led the match right to the third final series. Then, she was overtaken by Jing by a few tenths, and finished in second place with a total score of 787.3 points, winning the Silver medal and an Olympic Quota Place.

The 2004 Olympic Silver medallist Lenka Maruskova of Czech Republic, 26, secured the Bronze medal, finishing in third place with a score of 786.0 points. Qualified with 584 points, she marked 202.0 points in the final, winning the Bronze.

She was followed by the second Chinese finalist, Zhang Jingjing, 22, who made it to the match in fourth place, with 583 points, and there she ended up her final with 785.5 points. The young Chinese shooter had only competed once in an ISSF world cup final match, last year in Beijing.

The second Olympic Quota assigned today was taken by Hungary’s Zsofia Csonka, 27, who had qualified in third with 582 points, sliding then down in fifth place with 782.1 points.

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“I will try my hardest to win the next Olympic Games!” the reigning 25m Pistol Women Olympic Champion, Chen Ying, said after winning today’s medal match at the 2011 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Fort Benning, GA, USA.

The 33-year old Chinese shooter secured the brightest medal with a total score of 796.7 points, equalling the current final world record. After entering the final with 591 points, with 4 points of advantage on her closest opponent, she shot 205.7 points in the final, turning out to be unbeatable.

“It’s a miracle!” She commented right after the match “I stopped shooting for one year, and I just came back to shooting. So I did not expect such a record result!” Chen said. This was her second World Cup Gold medal of the season, after her victory at the previous stage in Changwon.

“I am an old shooter, in China, where we start shooting at 13,” the 33-year old said. “So many new young athlete are coming up every year. But I will try to stay in the leas as long as possible. Shooting means all, in my life.”

The Silver medal went to Beijing’s Olympic Silver medallist, Otryad Gundegma, 32, from Mongolia, who finished behind Chen mirroring the final of the 2008 Games. The Mongolian shooter, ranked 17th in the world, moved up from the third place securing the Silver and an Olympic pass for London 2012 with a total score of 789.8 points.

The Bronze medal was taken by India’s Rahi Sarnobat, 20, who surprised everybody  byclimbing up the scoreboard form the eighth to the third place. The young Indian shooter had qualified in last place with 582 points, but then moved up to the podium with an extreme final score of 207.7 points, meaning an average of more than 10.3 points per shot. Next to the Bronze  – her first ISSF medal – Sarnobat also pocketed an Olympic Quota Place, an entrance ticket to the next 2012 Games.

Her teammate, Anisa Sayyed, 30, who had started the match in second place, finished far behind the podium in seventh place, with an overall score of 787.0 (587+200.0 points).

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Olena Kostevych pocketed her second medal at the 2011 ISSF Combined World Cup in Sydney, today. The Ukrainian shooter who had won Bronze at the 10m Air Pistol Women event a few days ago, secured today’s 25m Pistol Women Gold medal with a total score of 787.3 points.

Kostevych, a 2004 Air Pistol Olympic Champion, made it to today’s final in third place, with a qualification score of 584 points. She had started three points behind the qualification’s leader, Antoaneta Boneva, but the wind turned the tables of the round.

While Boneva slid down in the placements, Kostevych climbed up in the lead with an excellent final score of 203.3 points, finishing on the highest step of the podium. The 25-year old shooter, an expert Air Pistol shooter, had never won a Gold medal in this small bore event, before.

Boneva landed in third place with a total score of 786.1 (587+199.1) points, securing the Bronze medal. But the 25-year old Bulgarian shooter did not care about the colour of the medal: by finishing in third she secured an Olympic Quota Place for her country, an entry pass for the next 2012 Games.

Finishing in second with the Silver, it was China’s Jing Yuan, 23, who secured the second Quota Place with a total score of 786.2 (584 +202.1) points.

Her teammate Chen Ying, the reigning Olympic Champion, finished in sixth and last place, with 734.0 points. The Chinese top shooter experienced a non-allowed malfunction on her second competition series, and missed four shots as she was not allowed to re-shoot the series.

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The 1988 Olympic Champion of Seoul, Georgia’s Nino Salukvadze, won her second consecutive ISSF World Cup Final by winning today’s 25m Pistol Women final in Munich.

The 41-year old shooter made it into the final round in fourth place with a qualification score of 578 points, but then she turned the tables of the match thanks to an excellent last series of 52.4 points that lifted her up in the lead.

Scoring 205.4 points in the final, for a total of 783.4 points, the Georgian athlete secured her second, consecutive ISSF World Cup title, one year after her victory on the shooting lines of Wuxi. Salukvadze had already won two ISSF World Cup Finals in this event in 1989 and 1993.

Following her in second, the 2004 Olympic Silver medallist of the Czech Republic, Lenka Maruskova, secured Silver with a total score of 781.9 points. Qualified in third place with 579 points, the 25-year old Czech shooter finished on the second step of the podium by marking 202.9 points during the final.

Bronze went to the qualification leader, today’s youngest medallist, 24-year old France shooter Celine Goberville.

Goberville, who had qualified for this event by winning a Silver medal at the ISSF World Cup Stage in Belgrade last June, made it into today’s final round in the lead with three points of advantage on her experienced followers.

But, after a malfunction on her fourth and last competition series, she slid down in the placement, landing in Bronze position with a total of 780.5 points.

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“You couldn’t put more drama into a Sport Pistol Final” said a German spectator after today’s 25m Pistol Women final at the ISSF World Championship in all shooting events taking place in Munich, Germany. Drama has indeed been the main ingredient of this match, decided at the last shot, on the hedge of tenths.

What happened? The Gold medal, the title and the first Olympic Quota place went to Russia’s Kira Klimova, 27-year old, from Moscow, who won the match with a total score of 788.8 points, after a great final score of 204.8 points.

Kliomova had never won an ISSF Gold medal, before, and she did it in the most spectacular way. After the third competition series, the three shooters who were going to finish on the podium were tied. Klimova, Serbia’s Arunovic and Czech Republic’s Maruskova were all tied in the lead with a score of 736.9 points, fighting neck and neck to secure the brightest medal.

The fourth and last series turned therefore into a shoot-off for the podium placements. Maruskova scored 51.7 points, a great series, but not enough to keep up with the other two contenders. While the Czech shooter sled in third place,  grabbing the Bronze with 788.6 points, both Arunovic and Klimova, incredibly, scored 51.9 points on their last series, finishing tied in first place.

The following shoot-off for Gold, a breathtaking one-series tie-breaker between the two athletes, was decided by 0.1 points, just a few millimetre on the target. Arunovic, shooting faster, totalized 48.9 points dropping down in second place, while Klimova climbed on her first world championship podium with 49.0 shoot-off points.

Five Olympic Quota Places had to be assigned in this event. Since the Silver and the Bronze medallists Zorana Arunovic and Lenka Maruskova, and the Chinese shooter Su Yiling (seventh today) had already secured an Olympic pass in the 10m Air Pistol Women event, all the other finalists were awarded a Quota Place.

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The two-time Olympic Champion Maria Grozdeva of Bulgaria won the 25m Pistol Women final at the ISSF World Cup in Rifle and Pistol events in Belgrade, Serbia, claiming her second World Cup gold back to back.

The 38-year old Bulgarian athlete shot the highest final score, 206.7 points, climbing up in the lead from the fifth place she had gained throughout the qualification.

Finishing in first place with a total score of 790.7 (584+206.7) points, Grozdeva secured her second consecutive World Cup Gold medal, following her success at the previous ISSF World Cup stage held in Fort Benning (USA) last May.

At the same time the Bulgarian shooter, who has won an impressive number of 25 world cup medals in this event during her sport career, secures the first place in the world ranking, and seems to be one of the favourites in the fight for the first 2012 Olympic Quota Places, that will be assigned at the next ISSF World Championship to be held in Munich from July 29th through August 10th.

Following her on the podium, the French shooter Celine Goberville placed in second grabbing Silver with a total score of 790.6 (588+202.6) points. The 23-year old shooter had finished on the podium also a couple of days ago, as she won the 10m Air Pistol Women event. Goberville, competing on the international scene since the end of the nineties, had never won an ISSF medal prior to this world cup stage of Belgrade.

The Bronze medal was taken by the Olympic Champion of Seoul 1988, Georgia’s Nino Salukvadze, 41, who closed the match in third with a total score of 788.3 points. Qualified with 586 points, the Georgian shooter scored 202.3 points throughout the final to win her first medal of the season.

The home shooter and local hero, Serbia’s Jasna Sekaric followed them placing in fourth with a total score of 786.0 points, 2.3 points far from the podium. The 44-year old shooter, a five-time Olympic medallist, had won the first world cup stage of the year, held in Sydney (AUS).

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Germany’s Munkhbayar Dorjsuren won today’s 25m Pistol Women event at the ISSF World Cup in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events in Beijing, held on the lines of the 2008 Olympic venue.

The 40-year old German shooter, who had won here an Olympic Bronze two years ago, said to be extremely excited to be back on Beijing’s podium, and to win her first ISSF Gold medal of the season.

Dorjusuren had to fight hard to climb up on the highest step of the podium. The German athlete had qualified in fourth place, with 583 points and two points of disadvantage from the qualification leader, the home shooter Zhang Jingjing.

She started climbing up the scoreboard since the first final series, moving up shot after shot and eventually claiming Gold with a total score of 787.0 points (583+204.0). Dorjusuren had won her last ISSF Gold medal in 2009, at the World Cup Stage held in Milan.

Following her, the 2000 Olympic Bronze medallist Lalita Yauhleuskaya did even better, by scoring 205.7 points during the final. The Australian athlete climbed all the way up from the eighth place she had on the start grid, landing in second place to claim Silver with a total score of 786.7 points. The 46-year old shooters had started the season in the spotlights by making it into the final match at the first 2010 ISSF World Cup Stage in Sydney, where she had eventually placed fourth.

The home shooter, Zhang Jingjing, 21-year old, had never competed before in an international shooting event. After qualifying in the lead with 585 points, she paid her lack of experience during the medal match.

Shooting in the eighth and ninth rings more than once, she slid down in the placements, grabbing the Bronze medal with 786.3 points, just five tenths more than what scored by Bulgaria’s Grozdeva, who placed in fourth with 785.8 points.

One of the favourite shooter, China’s Guo Wenjun, the 10m Air Pistol Women Olympic Champion of Beijing, did not make it to the podium. The 25-year old shooter qualified for the final in third place with 583 points, ending up in sixth place with a total of 783.7 points after shooting 200.7 points in the final. She was followed by Azerbaijan’s Irada Ashumova (seventh with 783.5 points) and by Georgia’s Olympic multi-medallist Nino Salukvadze (eighth with 779.0 points).

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Serbia’s five time Olympic medallist Jasna Sekaric came back on the highest step of an ISSF podium by winning today’s 25m Pistol Women event at the ISSF World Cup in Rifle and Pistol events in Sydney, Australia. This wasn’t the first time that she competed here: on the lines of this venue she had won a 10m Air Pistol Silver medal during the 2000 Olympic Games, and probably experience played a determinant role in today’s victory.

Entering today’s final round solydly in the lead with 585 points, Sekaric did not shoot at her best during the final match, scoring 197.2 points throughout the four final series. Thanks to her 3-point head start, she managed her margin over the followers, finishing in first place with a total score of 782.2 points.

“I haven’t been training that much because we don’t have a indoor range in Serbia. Therefore I was a little bit nervous, you have probably seen it during the final.” Sekaric said after the round.

The 44-year old shooter had won her last World Cup Gold in this event in 2008, at the pre-Olympic World Cup in Beijing. The Serbian sharpshooter, competing in each edition of the Olympics since 1988, has won an impressive record number of 59 World Cup medals in her successful sport career.

Silver went to the 22-year old Russian shooter Anna Mastyanina, competing in her first final, today. The young shooter, ranked 53 in the world, grabbed her best results ever here in Sydney, claiming the Silver medal with a total score of 781.2 points, after scoring of 199.2 in the final.

Just two tenths of a point behind her, Korea’s Boo Soon Hee secured Bronze with 781.0 points. The 42-year old finalist, an Olympic veteran of Seoul, Atlanta and Sydney, had won her last World Cup medal in 1994, in Munich. Entering today’s match in eight an last place, with the lower qualification score of 577 points, she climbed upon the podium by shooting today’s highest score in the final: 204.0 outstanding points.

Today’s turned out to be a great event also for the host country, Australia, as two Australian shooters made it to the final round, ranking in fourth and sixth place. Lalita Yahuleuskaya turned out to be a little bit unlucky, as she missed the podium by 0.7 points finishing in fourth with a total score of 780.3 points. Her teammate Linda Ryan, an Olympians of Sydney 2000’s Games, understandably felt the home court pressure, losing the third spot she had on the start list to end up in fifth place with 778.6 points.

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