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With 7 points of head start after the qualification, the Russian ace shooter turned out to be unbeatable, in the last Rifle event of the 2010 ISSF World Cup Final in Munich.

The 50m Rifle Three Positions Men final closed the Rifle competitions at the 2010 ISSF World Cup Final in Munich.

The match was led since the qualifications by the 2006 World Champion, Artem Khadjibekov of Russia, a rifle specialist shooting for the CSKA club.

Nobody could reach or even come close to the Russian Champion, who exploited his huge advantage to control his opponents during the final round.

Khadjibekov, who had qualified to participate in the event by winning a Silver medal at this year’s World Cup Stage in Belgrade, made it into the final in the lead with an excellent score of 1181 points (399 in prone, 386 in standing and 396 in kneeling), leaving his closest opponents 7 points behind him.

Shooting solidly, he build up his victory throughout the 10-shot final match, finishing on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 1278.7 points, with a 6.9-point lead over his followers.

The 40-year old athlete had already won an ISSF World Cup Final in this event in 2001. The next aim of the Russian champion, who has been competing in all Olympic editions since 1996, is now to secure an Olympic quota place, an entrance ticket to the London 2012 Games, during the 2011 ISSF World Cup Season.

While Khadjibekov was securing the Cup, Italy’s Campriani and Hungary’s Sidi put the fight for the Silver medal in the spotlights.

The 22-year old Italian ace shooter Niccolò Campriani, who had finished on the podium of the 10m Air Rifle Men competition just two days ago, started today’s final match in the top-3, with a qualification score of 1174 points, tied to the 2010 World Champion Peter Sidi, a 32-year old rifle master ranked first in the world in this event.

The two opponents duelled throughout the whole final match. Tied at the beginning of the round, they shot head and head right to the last shot, when it was the Hungarian shooter who grabbed the Silver medal with only 0.2 of advantage on Campriani.

“I prepared especially for the Three Positions event!” Sidi said after winning a Bronze medal in the 10m Air Rifle Men event, two days ago. And he kept his words, by winning today’s Silver with a total score of 1271.8 points.

Campriani finished in third place, securing the Bronze medal with a total score of 1271.6 points. Fighting right to the end of the match, he turned out to be only 0.2 points shy of climbing upon the second step of the podium.

Austria’s Mario Knoegler, 31, starting the round with 1173 points, one point behind Sidi and Campriani, fought for a spot on the podium throughout the first part of the match. The Austrian athlete had almost tied his opponents in second place, when he fired a frustrating 6.3 on his sixth shot, falling down in seventh place where he eventually closed his match with a total score of 1268.9 points.

Overtaking him, USA’s Jason Parker took the fourth place with 1270.1 points, while the home shooter Julian Justus (22, today’s youngest finalist) ended up in fifth with 1269.5 points after shooting-off Serfbia’s Nemanja Mirosavljev, today’s sixth.

09Emmons won his third World Cup’s 50m Rifle Three Positions Gold medal this year. The American shooter, ranked first in the world in this event, is now looking forward to the ISSF World Championship.

The rifle champion Matthew Emmons left no chances to his opponents, at today’s 50m Rifle Three Positions Men competition, at the fourth and last stage of this year’s ISSF World Cup Series held in Belgrade, Serbia.

The 29-year old American shooter, an Olympic Medallist of Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, shoot three excellent qualification stages (Prone 397, Standing 390, Kneeling 394), making it into the final round in the lead with the highest qualification score of 1181 points, and with five points of advantage on the second shooter, Russia’s Khadjibekov.

Fighting against the strong wind blowing from the right to the left side of Belgrade’s shooting range, Emmons managed his head-start over his opponents, scoring 97.4 points during the final and climbing on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 1278.4 points.

“I shot couple of eighths, because of the wind.” Said the American champion, right after the match “It picked up quite strong during the final, affecting the bullets. I tried to compensate, but it hasn’t been easy, today!”

“In spite of all, I am happy that I am on the podium again. This is my third Gold medal in this event, this year… I am feeling great!” continued Emmons, who is currently ranked first in the world in this event after his victories at this year’s World Cup stages in Sydney and Fort Benning.

Counting today’s Gold, the American shooter has won three out of this year’s four World Cup’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions competitions, with a 100% success rate, as he only participate in three World Cup stages.

“This has been the last big match before the World Championship – concluded the Gold medallist – Probably I am going to compete in a local match in Pilsen, but my next aim is the World Championship in Munich.” Emmons said, mentioning the 2010 ISSF World Championship in all events that will kick-off in Munich next 29^th of July.

Today’s Silver medal went to the 40-year Russian Olympian Artem Khadjibekov, who finished in second place with a total score of 1274.9 points after shooting today’s highest final score (98.9 points).

Austria’s Mario Knoegler, 30, currently ranked second in the world in this event, took the Bronze medal with a total score of 1268.1 points, climbing from the fifth place. The Austrian shooter had won his last ISSF medal a couple of months ago, when he had claimed a Silver at the ISSF World Cup stage held in Sydney.

The host country ruled the 50m Rifle Three Positions Men event, placing two shooters, Emmons and Parker, on the first two steps of the podium. Italy’s Campriani followed in third winning his second ISSF World Cup medal.

“It’s simply great to win a World Cup Gold medal in your home country.” Said today’s 50m Rifle Three Position Gold medallist, Matthew Emmons, the world’s top ranked shooter in this event who claimed today’s Gold with a total score of 1276.6 points.

Qualified in first place with the top score of 1178 points, the 2004 and 2008 Olympic medallist Emmons shot 98.6 points during the final, ending up in first place in spite of last shot of 8.9 points.

The American shooter, who had won the first World Cup Gold medal of the season in Sydney (AUS), will now compete in the next World Cup Stage in Serbia, on the path leading to the 50th ISSF World Championship in all events.

“The ISSF World Championship is the most important competition of the season. The first 2012 Olympic Quotas are going to be assigned there, and I am really looking forward to it.” Said Emmons “It’s not going to be easy, I know they expect a great turnout of athletes there.”

Following him today, his 35-year old teammate Jason Parker, a long-experienced world cup competitor, placed in second, securing Silver with a total score of 1274.1 points. Qualified in third place with 1174 points, Parker climbed up in second by scoring 100.2 points throughout the final, overtaking Italy’s Nicolò Campriani, who landed in third place.

Campriani, a 22-year old Italian shooter studying and training at the West Virginia University in USA, ended up in third securing Bronze with 1272.5 points, loosing Silver after scoring a disappointing 6.9 points on his last competition shot.

“We have been shooting together in Ft. Benning many times, and it is always a great experience to be here. I am extremely happy to share the podium with Jason Parker and with Nico Campriani. Nico is one of my favourite young shooters, he has all the pieces to become a champion.” Said the Gold medallist Emmons, who had several chances to train and compete shoulder and shoulder with the Italian athlete.

The 2009 Shooter of the Year, Peter Sidi of Hungary, placed in fifth with a total score of 1269.7 points, following Czech Republic’s Vaclav Haman, who ended up in fourth after shooting today’s highest final score, 101.3 points, for a total score of 1271.3 points.