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A new competition format for the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men was tested during this ISSF World Cup Final in Munich. Russia’s Leonid Ekimov won the test match, followed by Italy Mazzetti and Spain’s Llames.

Today’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men final taking place at the 2010 ISSF World Cup Final in Munich turned into a test event for some innovations that might be adopted in this event in the future.

The World Cup Finalists passed through the usual qualification series, entering then a new Semi-Final stage to select the top-6 shooters who moved then to the Final stage.

Both in the Semi-Final and in the Final, a new “hit-or-miss” scoring system was adopted instead of the usual “points&decimals” system. Any shot scoring 9.7 or better was counted as a “Hit” (1 point). Any shot under that value as a “Miss” (0 points).

The Final was conducted on three layouts (three different 5-target units), with two athletes sharing each layout and shooting alternatively on the same 5-target unit.

After four series of five shots, the finalist with the lowest number of hits had to leave the match, while the others kept on fighting for the medals. From there on, after each series, the shooter with the lowest score had to leave the match, until the final duel for the Gold medal.

It was the 2008 Olympic Bronze medallist Christian Reitz the first to leave this test Final after the first four series, with 11 hits out of 20 shots. The 2010 World Champion Alexei Klimov of Russia (35), followed him after the fifth series, with 12 hits out of 25 shots. After the third eliminatory series (30 shots), it was Japan’s Akaiama who went out with 19 hits, ending up in fourth place.

Then, only three shooters remained in competition fighting for the Gold: Italy’s Riccardo Mazzetti, Spain’s Jeorge Llames and Russia’s Leonid Ekimov.

While Mazzetti hit 4 out of 5 targets, totalizing 24 hits, Leonid Ekimov surprised the audience with a perfect final series of the 5 hits. With 22 hits out of 35 shots Spain’s Llamez could not stand their scores, and had to leave the match claiming the Bronze medal.

In the following duel for the highest step of the podium, it was the young Russian pistol shooter Ekimov who secured the brightest medal, with a total score of 31 hits out of 35 shots, leaving Mazzetti the Silver medal with a total of 28 hits.

“Of course I am happy about this Gold medal!” said Ekimov right after the final “But I am not that sure about this new format…”

“I think the new rules are great!” answered the Silver medallist Mazzetti “There’s some extra pressure, we shoot all together, and everybody knows how the other finalists are performing… I think this could be a good way to promote this event and to make it more enjoyable for the spectators.”

“It’s a challenge” Mazzetti added “But we are sportsman, and we are here because we like such challenges.”

“It was just a test match, but I believe the test proved that there is a chance to make the Rapid Fire Pistol event more exciting for the audience” The ISSF Vice President Gary Anderson said after the final “The reaction of the spectators, and the TV footage of this final, tell us that this event turned into an outstanding show.”

The Rapid Fire Pistol event was ruled by the Chinese team, that placed three athletes on the podium. India was represented in the final by two shooters.

It was China’s day today, at the ISSF World Cup in Rifle and Pistol events in Sydney. The Chinese team ruled the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol men event, placing three athletes on the podium to win Gold, Silver and Bronze.

It was a new face to win the Gold medal. Li Yuehong, 20-year old, today’s youngest finalist, had never participated in an ISSF international competition, before. The young shooter took the second spot on the start list thanks a qualification score of 580 points, placing him four points behind his expert teammate Jian Zhang.

Shooting four great series, Li scored 201.4 points throughout the final, first tying and than overtaking Zhang, and ended up in first place with a total score of 781.4 points which gave him the Gold medal.

Missing more than usual, the ISSF World Cup Silver medallist of Milan 2009 Zhang Jian scored 191.9 points throughout today’s final series. Since the first series, when he scored twice in the eighth ring, he lost his margin over Li Yuehong, sliding then down in second place. The 24-year old athlete eventually won Silver with a total score of 775.9 points.

The two Chinese shooters were reached on the podium by their titled teammate Zhang Penghui, 32-year old, from Nanjing. The 2006 World Champion qualified for the match in fourth place with 577 points, and scored 194.2 points during the final, ending up in third place with a total of 771.2 points to win his twelfth World Cup medal since 1998.

The final round was than closed by a shoot-off between the two Indian teammates Gurpreet Singh and Pemba Tamang, who had closed the round with an equal score of 767.7 points. It was the 22-year old Singh to win the duel for the fourth spot by shooting-off Tamang 50.9 to 47.1 points.