The Indian ace shooter claimed the title in Izmir and looks now forward to his next aim: the Commonwealth Games taking place in India in October.

The Indian ace shooter Ronjan Sodhi won the Cup in the Double Trap event at the 2010 ISSF Shotgun World Cup Final in Izmir, Turkey, today.

The 30-year old shooter from Punjab climbed up the scoreboard since the first pair. Qualified with a score of 143 hits out of 150 targets, Ronjan took advantage of his opponents’ numerous mistakes, nailing the Gold medal with a final tally of 49 hits, and a total score of 192 targets.

“I feel simply great!” exclaimed Sodhi, jumping on the highest step of the podium.

“This has been a long and intense season. I took part in five different international competition, and the balance of the year is definitively positive.” He added, thinking about the 2010 ISSF World Cup season.

“I won the World Cup stage in Lonato, and the World Cup Final here in Izmir. And at the beginning of the year, in Acapulco, I also scored a world record… unluckily I was shooting as MQS, so that was not registered.” Continued the shooter, who is currently ranked ninth in the world.

Sodhi won’t have much time to rest, after this victory,  in spite of being at the end of such a stressful seasons. “No holidays – he said – I will give my best for the Commonwealth Games, now. I am getting ready, and I feel extremely motivated. Australian and English shooters will be the toughest opponents to beat, there.“

Following him in second and third place, two Chinese teammates, Mo Jiunie and Pan Qiang secured the Silver and the Bronze medal, respectively.

Mo, 22-year old, from Shanghai, had finished in the spotlight at the World Cup stage of Beijing and Lonato, this year, winning the home-game and placing fourth in Italy. He started today’s final with a qualification score of 141 hits, and climbed up in second place by hitting 47 clays in the final, for a total score of 188 hits.

His teammate Pan Qiang, 25, from Beijing, who had qualified for this match by winning the World Cup Stage held in Dorset last spring, finished in third place grabbing the Bronze with a total of 187 (144+43) hits.

The 2010 World Championship Silver medallist Vasily Mosin from the Russian Federation was left in fourth place. Qualified with a score of 143 hits, the Russian sharpshooter missed his first pair of targets, lading out of the podium a total score of 186 (143+43) hits.

The Swedish champion Hakan Dahlby (who had won the World Cup Final two years ago) and the 1996 Olympic Champion and two time World Champion Russell Mark of Australia followed in fifth and sixth place with 184 and 183 targets, respectively.

The 2009 World Cup Final title defender, China’s Hu Binyuan, and the recently-awarded 2010 World Champion, USA’s Joshua Richmond, did not make it to the final, and closed their match in 9th and 10th place, respectively.

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Mo Junjie of the People’s Republic of China won the Double Trap Men event, securing Gold on his home range with a total score of 191 hits, leaving his opponents four targets behind him.

The 22-year old Chinese shooter had concluded the 2009 Season by winning a Gold medal at the World Cup Final held here in Beijing, the first World Cup Final of the ISSF history to take place under a snow-fall.

Mo went through a match conditioned by some inevitable and unexpected schedule changes. As Chinese local authorities indicted a Mourning National Day for the victims of the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that hit north China, the Double Trap Final scheduled on the 21st of April had to be cancelled with only a few-hour notice. The final round was rescheduled for the 22nd, but some teams were not able to change their flight tickets and to extend their stay in China. Therefore, one third of the Double Trap athletes could not participate in the competition.

In these unusual circumstances, Mo Junjie walked into the final round in first place, with a qualification score of 146 hits. Shooting solidly on his home range, and supported by the home crowd cheering for him after each and every double, the Chinese shooter hit 45 out of 50 targets during the final, landing in first place with a total score of 191 hits. The young athlete, ranked sixth in World and holding the 2009 World Cup Title, had been participating also in the first 2010 ISSF Shotgun World Cup stage in Acapulco, last March, placing fourteenth.

Silver went to the 1996 Olympic Champion and 2000 Olympic Silver medallist Russell Mark, 46, who closed the final round in second place with a total score of 187 hits. Qualified for the final with 145 targets, the Australian champion duelled with Qatar’s Rashid Al-Athba and Kuwait’s Fehaid Aldeehani right to the last shot, making it to the second step of the podium with a total score of 187 hits and one target of advantage on the two.

Al-Athba and Aldeehani ended up the final round tied with a score of 185 hits, and had to pass through a shoot-off for Bronze. Three doubles were necessary to decide the podium placements, as Aldeehani missed one target on his third double, putting himself in fourth with a final score of 185+5 targets.

Rashid Al-Athba, 29, secured Bronze with 185+6 targets. The Qatari athlete had won a Silver and a Bronze medal throughout the 2009 ISSF World Cup Series, as well as a Silver medal at the 2009 Asian Championship held in Almaty at the end of the last season.

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• June 11, 2009 – Double Trap Men – HU shot a 196-target final world record (0)

The limits of the Double Trap events were raised today, as the Chinese shooter HU Binyuan set a new Final World Record of 196 hits, two targets more the previous 194 -target record which had been set by Italy’s DI SPIGNO ten years ago, at the 1999 Wolrd Championship.

The Olympic Bronze medallist HU, who had won a Silver medal here in Minsk at last year’s ISSF World Cup Final, walked into today’s final round with an equalled World Record of 147 hits after the morning’s qualification rounds.

After shooting 49 targets in all of the three qualification rounds, the Chinese shooter score 49 targets also in the final match, setting a new, outstanding Final World Record of 196 hits. Unreachable, the Chinese shooter left behind him India’s Ronjan SODHI, second with 194 hits, and Russia’s Vitaly FOKEEV, Bronze medallist with 190 hits.

Ronjan SODHI, who had equalled the previous 194-target record last year, finished in second place claiming Silver with a total score of 194 hits “I equalled the old 194-target record once again, today. Actually, I equalled the old record for about ten seconds, then HU shot his last pair, hit both the targets, and set a new one!” Said the Indian shooter after the match.

“196 hits! This is an outstanding record, it came out of a combination of perfect weather and of a perfect range, and of a great performance of Hu.” Said SOSHI. The Indian athlete had been the only shooter able to equal the previous 194-record, in the last ten years “But we have a new record now, and records are made to be equalled and broken. Double Trap results are moving up, the level is higher and higher…”

Italy’s Daniele DI SPIGNO, who had set the 194-record at the 1999 World Championships of Tampere, Finland, placed today in tenth place, and commented: “This is an outstanding record, especially if you consider that the previous one lasted 10 years. Now we all have a new frontier ahead of us.”

Russia’s Vitaly FOKEEV placed in third today, winning Bronze with 190 (142+48) hits, coming back on an ISSF podium two years after his last medal, won at the 2007 ISSF World Cup of Lonato.

Following FOKEEV, Hakan DAHLBY of Sweden, USA’s Joshua RICHMOND (winner of the last world cup stage in Munich) and Saif ALSHAMSY of the UAE, tied with a total score of 188 hits. In the following shoot-off, ALSHAMSY was the first to miss, placing in sixth place with 188+3 targets. 21-year old Joshua RICHMOND kept on shooting right to his fourth pair, when he dropped a target placing himself in fifth with 188+7 targets, while the expert Swedish champion DAHLBY placed in fourth with 188+8 targets.

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