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Taras MAGMET, a 39-year old Ukrainian shooter, won today’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol men event at the ISSF World Cup stage in Rifle and Pistol events in Milan. The pistol shooter won the final round by climbing form the fourth place on the start list, exploiting his opponent’s mistakes and thanks to a final of 200.6 points.

With a final score of 784.6 (584+200.6) points, MAGMENT won his first ISSF Gold medal, probably the best result of his shooting career.

MAGMENT seems to be used to finish upon Milan’s podium, after all. Throughout his 29-year long sport career, the Ukrainian shooter has only won three world cup medals (counting today’s gold), and he has pocketed all of these three medals here in Milan.

Probably suffering the heat of today’s Milan afternoon, the other five finalists did not shoot brilliant final scores.

Qualification’s leader, the Chinese shooter Jian ZHANG, 23, winner of a Bronze medal at the first 2009 ISSF World Cup stage, finished in second in spite of his initial 3-point head start on the followers. The Chinese shooter fired a disappointing final round of 193.1 points, finishing in second and securing Silver with a total score of 781.1 points.

Coming in third, Germany’s young champion, Beijing’s Bronze medallist Christian REITZ, 22, finished in third place grabbing Bronze with a total score of 780.0 (582+198.0) points.

Beijing’s Olympic Champion Oleksandr PETRIV, who turned out to be very disappointed by his final of 195.9 points, finished in fourth place with a total score of 779.9 points. The three-time Olympic Gold medallist Ralf SCHUMANN of Germany fired a final of 192.7 points, for a total score of 775.2 points, finishing in sixth place. Preceding him, USA’s Keith SANDERSON, who had claimed a medal in each of the three previous world cup stages this year, finished in fifth place with a final of 192.7 points, today’s lowest final score, and a total of 777.7 points.

The home champion Reitz climbed Munich’s podium
The crowded final hall of Munich cheered for the 22-year old home shooter Christian REITZ, who won today’s Gold climbing from the fourth place thanks to a fantastic final match. Beijing’s Olympic Bronze medallist scored 201.3 points with four consistent series, overtaking the other finalists with an irresistible total score of 785.3 points.

“Munich welcomed me fantastically! I had never won a world cup Gold medal here in Munich. I have been shooting here a few times, junior competitions, European championships, but it is not the same thing.” Christian Reitz said, “I am looking forward to the 2010 World Championships. My goal is to make into the final… but I don’t want to speak about medals now. We will see in one year.”

Reitz had won a Silver medallist at last year’s ISSF world cup final held here in Munich. The German athlete, in spite of his young age, has already won a considerable amount of titles. Next to the Olympic Bronze, Reitz collected a World Championships junior title in 2006, two World Cup Golds in 2008 and a Silver medal at the 2008 ISSF World Cup Final in Munich.

Czech’s Strnad lost gold in his fourth series
Martin STRNAD of Czech Republic won the Silver medal, getting his first international medal ever. Strnad had started today’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol match in the lead with today’s highest qualification score (586 points). Facing Bulgaria’s Chaushev in the first relay, Strnad suffered in the last part of the match, shooting a frustrating fourth competition series of 44.8 points. His total score of 780.2 turned out to be 5.1 points lower then the total score of Reitz.

Bronze to USA’s Sanderson
Facing Reitz in the second relay of the final, USA’s Keith SANDERSON, 34, scored 195.0 points in the final round, totalizing 780.0 points and winning Bronze.

The American shooter has never being winning as much as in the last two months. Sanderson opened the 2009 ISSF World Cup season by shooting a silver medal at the first ISSF world cup stage of the year in Changwon, Korea, and a gold at the following world cup in Beijing, China. “I did not really change anything. It’s a matter of time and training… I am just getting better!”

Chaushev received a 2-point penalty.
Sabin CHAUSHEV of Bulgaria had started in second place with a qualification score of 585 points, but since he came in late for the final match, a 2-point penalty deduction was applied to him. The Bulgarian shooter summed a disappointing fourth series of 44.5 points to the penalization, closing the match in sixth and last place with a total score of 767.8 points

Shooting in the first final-relay, Beijing’s Olympic finalist Roman BONDARUK of Ukraine, 34, placed in fourth. The Ukrainian shooter scored 194.0 points in the first relay, overtaking his Chinese opponent Zhang, finishing with a total score of 777.0 points.

China’s ZHANG Jian placed in fifth place with an overall score of 775.7 points. He had shot his first international match at the world cup stage in Changwon, Korea, where he secured a Bronze, and then he participated in the world cup stage in Beijing, where he did not qualify for the final match.