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27 Nations finished on the podium of the 50th ISSF World Championship, when we are half way through the competition. China leads the intermediate medal standings with 19 medals, followed by Russia dn Italy.

The Chinese team leads the intermediate medal standings of the 50th ISSF World Championship in all shooting events, taking palce in at the 1972 Olympic Shooting Range of Munich from the 29th of July through the 11th of August.

The medal standings:

Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total

1  CHN  9  7  3  19

2  RUS  6  4  6  16

3  ITA  5  1  4  10

4  UKR  3  4  4  11

5  KOR  2  5  2  9

6  GER  2  3  2  7

7  USA  2  1  5  8

8  JPN  2      2

9 POL  2     2

10  HUN  1 2 3

BLR  1  1  1  3

12  FRA  1 1 2

NOR  1  1    2

SVK  1  1    2

15  ESP  1    1  2

THA  1    1  2

17  SRB    2  1  3

SUI    2  1  3

19  AUS    2    2

20  AUT    1  1  2  21

ISR    1    1

PRK    1    1

23  CZE      3  3

24 SMR      2  2  25

FIN      1  1

IND      1  1

KAZ 1 1

TOAL 40 40 40 120

China’s Liu Yingzi won Gold, beating Japan’s Suzu and Slovakia’s Stefecekova. Five out of today’s six finalists came from Asian countries.

The 2009 ISSF World Cup Final winner Liu Yingzi of China secured Gold at the Trap Women final, propelling the Chinese shooting team atop of the overall medal standings of the ISSF World Cup in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events in Beijing.

The 39-year old athlete had won the 2009 World Cup Final held here in Beijing, shooting with ease in spite of the snow falling over Beijing. Five months later, she ruled over the Olympic range once again, defeating titled opponents in a breathtaking final round.

Entering the match in the lead with 73 qualification hits, the home shooter missed on her second and third final targets, loosing her advantage and starting a neck and neck fight for Gold against Japan’s Suzu Keiko and Slovakia’s Zuzana Stefecekova.

The three athletes exchanged position more than once during the final round, and the last shots turned out to be decisive for the podium placements.

The Olympic Silver medallist of Beijing, 26-year old Stefecekova from Slovakia, missed four targets in a row in the last part of the round, dropping down in third place. The world record holder finished with a total score of 89 (71+18) hits and the Bronze medal. She had won her last ISSF medal at last year’s World Cup Final here in Beijing, when she had placed second.

Japan’s Suzu Keiko, 31, currently ranked 50th in the World, lost her chance to finish atop of the podium as she missed her very last target, landing in second place with a total score of 90 (71+19) targets. Suzu, an Asian Championship’s multi-medallist, had claimed her last World Cup medal in 2001, in Seoul.

Taking advantage of her opponents’ mistakes, China’s Liu Yingzi cleared the last three targets, ending up in first place with a total of 91 (73+18) hits. The 2009 World Cup Title holder, ranked fifth in the world, stands now as one of the favourite shooters for the next ISSF World Championship in all events, to take place in Munich next August, where the first 2012 Olympic Quotas will be assigned.

China’s Wu Cuicui, Taipei Lin Yi Chun and People’s Republic of Kora’s Pak Yong Hui were also part of the match, which saw the Asian Shooting Confederation as the main protagonist. They closed the final in fourth, fifth and sixth place, respectively.

The home team outscored its opponents by placing two athletes on the first and second step of the podium. Wu Liuxi secured her second Gold medal, and stands now as the most successful Rifle Women shooter of this World Cup Stage.

China’s Wu Liuxi won today’s 50m Rifle Three Positions Women Final at the ISSF World Cup stage in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events in Beijing. The 25-year old shooter claimed the brightest medal in front of her home crowd, on the lines of the Olympic venue where she had competed during the 2008 Games.

Wu Liuxi, ranked third in the world in this event, outscored her opponents, qualifying with 587 points and a three-point head start on the followers. Supported by the Chinese spectators, and followed by the cameras of China’s national TV station CCTV, she scored 98.2 points during the final match, finishing the round in first with 685.2 points.

Wu had won Gold also at the 10m Air Rifle Women Final held a couple of days ago, and dramatically helped the People’s Republic of China to moved atop of the overall medal standings.

Chinese fans cheered even louder when a second home finalist moved up on the podium. Wang Chengyi, the 2004 Olympic Bronze medallist of Athens, came back on an ISSF podium by winning today’s Silver medal with a total score of 683.1 (584+99.1) points. The 26-year old shooter climbed up from the third place by scoring today’s highest final score of 99.1 points, overtaking Iran’s first time finalist Elaheh Ahmadi, who closed the match in third winning Bronze with 682.9 (584+98.9) points.

Wu Liuxi won Gold after equalling the World Record during the qualifications. It was the last shot that decided the podium placements of the 10m Air Rifle Women event, which saw two home shooters climbing on the podium with a few tenths margin.

The 2008 and 2009 ISSF World Cup Final winner, China’s Wu Liuxi, 25, entered the match in the lead with an outstanding qualification score of 400 points, equalling the World Record for the third time in her career.

Beate Gauss of Germany, following her just one point behind with a qualification score of 399 points, challenged her since the first final shot, trying to move in the lead.The two rifle shooters duelled throughout the whole final, going back and forth in first and second place, right to the last shot, when Gauss fired a frustrating 9.2 that landed her in third place. The second Chinese finalist, Yi Siling, took advantage of Gauss’s mistake, moving up in second place, claiming Silver and stepping on the podium next to her teammate Wu.

Wu Liuxi claimed Gold with a total score of 502.7 points (400+102.7), winning her first medal on the Olympic Shooting range of Beijing.

Yi Siling, 20, finished in second place with a total score of 502.6 points. After squeezing into the final match through a qualification shoot-off with 397 points + 52.9, the young Chinese athlete shot an extreme score of 105.6 points during the final, securing the second ISSF Silver medal of her international career (she had finished on the podium also at the 2009 World Cup Stage held here in Beijing).

Bronze was taken by Germany’s Beate Gauss, 25, who after that unlucky shot closed the match on the third step of the podium with a total score of 501.9 points (399+102.9).

Two American shooters, Amy Sowash and Emily Caruso, finished in fourth and fifth place with 501.5 and 501.0 points, respectively. The second German shooter, Barbara Lechner, ended up in sixth place, with a total of 500.4 points, after shooting-off 10.6 to 10.0 the Russian Olympic medallist Lioubov Galkina, seventh today.

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.