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The Indian ace shooter beat China’s Hu Binyuan in a breathtaking shoot-off for the Gold medal. While the Indian makes plans for the Olympics, Hu’s nightmare continues: this was his sixth world cup final silver medal within nine years, without a title.

India’s Ronjan Sodhi won today’s Double Trap Men event at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup Final held in Al Ain (UAE) from September the 30^th to October the 7^th.

 

After scoring 187 targets, he shoot-off China’s Hu Binyuan by 2 to 1 hits in the tiebreaker, securing his second ISSF World Cup title back to back.

 

The 31-year old Indian shooter arrived here to defend the title he had secured at last year’s ISSF World Cup Final in Izmir (TUR), and centred the goal after a spine chilling medal match.

 

After entering final match in second place, with a qualification score of 142 hits out of 150 targets, Sodhi climbed up overtaking China’s Hu. But, at the last double, he wasted the one-target advantage he had built up by missing his very last target.

 

Just an unlucky shot?

 

“Not exactly. I knew what was going on. I needed to hit that target to win, and I missed it over the excitement.” Sodhi said right after the final.

 

“Things like that can be fatal: I was thinking too much before the last double. I made such a stupid mistake, but then I was able to get back on focus at the shoot-off, and I made it.” The Indian shooter commented about shooting-off China’s Hu.

 

“It’s simply great to win two ISSF World Cup Finals back to back.  I have always been doing good in the last three-four seasons, and I am looking forward to the Olympic Games, now.”

 

Sodhi has never participated in the Olympics. Three years ago, in spite of scoring a World Record just a few weeks before the 2008 Games, he did not make it to the Indian Olympic team going to Beijing. Now, after such a result, he is almost sure he will be competing in London.

 

“We had a chance to test some targets that could be used at the Olympics, here in Al Ain. But these targets are too hard, you can tell it by looking at the scores: too low.” He commented.

 

“I would like to dedicate this medal to all the people who supported me, and to thank the government of India: they are investing on me, and I hope I will pay them back when it will be my turn in London.”

 

China’s Hu  Binyuan secured today’s Silver medal, finishing on the podium with 187+1 hits. After starting the match in first with 144 hits, he scored 43 targets, finishing in second after missing at his first shoot-off double.

 

The World Cup Final must be Hu’s nightmare: since 2003, he has finished in second six times (four consecutive times between 2006 and 2009), and has never won a Gold medal in this event.

 

With 185 hits, the Bronze medal went to Russia’s Vitaly Fokeev, a 37-year old world record holder who qualified to participate in this event by winning this year’s ISSF World Cup Stage in Concepcion.

 

Italy’s 33-year old Marco Innocenti finished in fourth place with 180 (136+44) hits, followed by the 2008 Olympic Champion Walton Eller, fifth with 178 hits, the same score of Great Britain’s Peter Wislon, who closed the match in sixth place.

Germany’s Loew and the 2008 Olympic Champ Eller of USA finished in second and third place, missing their last chance to win an Olympic Quota for London 2012.

China’s Li Jun won the Double Trap World Title at the 2011 ISSF Shotgun World Championship held in Belgrade, Serbia, today.

The 25-year old Chinese shooter finished on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 194+4 hits, after shooting-off Germany’s Andreas Loew, second with 194+3 hits, and also secured the only Olympic Quota Place to be awarded.

 

Today’s final match was all about Olympic Quota: three finalists, Li, Loew and the reigning Olympic Champion, USA’s Glenn Eller, where looking for an Olympic qualification card.

 

During the final match, the three of them where tied, then Eller missed his 37^th target, sliding back in third place (where he closed the match with 193+4 hits).

 

Li and Loew kept on shooting neck and neck right to the last pair, ending up with a tied score of 194 hits. It was then the shoot-off to decide the Gold medal and the Olympic pass in favour of Li Jun, today’s less titled finalist.

 

Li had indeed only participated in two ISSF World Cup Stages, in his career, winning a Bronze medal in Beijing, earlier this year.

 

“It has been a difficult final, with a lot of tension right to the shoot-off. But I loved this match from the first to the last clay.” The Young Chinese athlete said.

 

“I have been shooting since 2002, but I could not make the team to compete at the 2008 Olympic Games. To win a Quota Place here in Belgrade, at the last chance before the 2012 Games, is simply great.” He said, with a smile on his face.

 

“I am not sure if I will be going to London 2012: the Quota Place is for the country. We will have national trials to decide the Olympic team. But of course I hope I will be there!”

 

“I trained a lot, and I would like to dedicate this medal to my coach and my country… and also to my parents: I don’t see them since six months, as I was too busy with trainings…” Concluded the new World Champion, who will now be invited at the ISSF World Cup Final, taking place in Al Ain (UAE) starting from the 31st of September.

 

No Quota went to the Silver medallist, Germany’s Andreas Loew, who missed Germany’s last chance to enter a Double Trap Shooter at the 2012 Olympic Games. There are indeed no more Quota Places available for European shooters. The 29-year old shooter, who has a long series of world cup participations on his barrels, gave his best today, by finishing in second. Ranked 38th in the World, he had never placed better then 5th, in an international ISSF competition.

 

The same occurred to the Bronze medallist, the 2008 Olympic Champ Glenn Eller of USA, who missed his last chance. USA only have one Quota, for the Double Trap event, won by Joshua Richmond at the 2010 World Championship.

 

To finish upon today’s podium, Eller shot-off Russia’s Vitaly Fokeev and Malta William Chetcuti, who closed in fourth and fifth place with 193+3 and 193+1 hits, respectively. The second Chinese finalist, Hu Binyuan (the 2008 Olympic Bronze medallist) ended up in sixth place with 190 hits.

 

TEAMS: CHINA IN FIRST, KUWAIT MADE IT TO THE PODIUM

The excellent scores of Li Jun and of Hu Binjuan, in addition to the 139 targets scored by Mo Junjie, lifted the Chinese team atop of the teams’ podium with a  total score of 432 hits. A great result matched by the Russian Federation (Vitaly Mosin, Vitaly Fokeev, Mikhail Leybo), that finished upon today’s podium with an overall score of 432 targets as well. The Bronze medal went to Kuwait (Mashfi Almutairi, Hamad Alafasi and Fehaid Aldeeani) with 431 hits.

USA’s Joshua Richmond won today’s Double Trap Men competition at the ISSF World Championship in all shooting events held in Munich (GER), securing the world title and an Olympic Quota Place with a record score of 196 hits out of 200 clays.

The 24-year old American shooter built his victory throughout the final match. Qualified in second place with 146 hits out of 150 targets, the athlete from Fort Benning, GA, did not drop a single target during the final match, overtaking his Russian opponent Mosin and climbing in the lead.

Shattering 50 out of 50 targets in the final, Richmond finished on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 196 targets, equalling the current world record set at last year’s ISSF World Cup Stage in Minsk by China’s Hu Binyuan (third today).

“It feels simply great! To win a World title, equalling the world record and securing Olympic Quota place… I still don’t know how I made it!” exclaimed the American shooter right after the final match, surrounded by his teammates, celebrating the title and the first Olympic Quota place won by the US Shotgun Team in this championship.

“I have been Junior World Champion in 2005… to win a title in the open category five years later is a dream which becomes true!” said Richmond, who had won a Junior title at the 2005 World Championship held in Lonato, Italy.

The American athlete won a difficult final, today.  A final taking place under a cold and thin rain, and disturbed by a slight breeze blowing from the left to the right side of the range.  A match which was stopped twice, first to let the US finalist Holguin change his trigger’s spring, and then to fix the targets’ angle.

“This is a great range, but it has not been easy! Something happened with the targets, the right clay moved to the centre. It was not properly angled anymore. I’d like to thank the ISSF referees for stopping the match and fixing it, even if that added a little bit of extra pressure to the round.” Commented Richmond. The American athlete, ranked fourth in the world until today’s final, has been a protagonist of the last two ISSF seasons, winning two World Cup Gold and one Bronze medals between 2009 and 2010.

Russia’s Vasily Mosin led today’s qualification with an equalled world record of 146 hits, but then he slid down in the placements during the final by missing 4 out of the 50 final targets. The Russian athlete eventually grabbed the Silver medal with a total score of 193+30 hits, winning an breathtaking shoot-off against the Olympic Bronze medallist of Beijing Hu Binyuan of China, who was left in third place with 193+29 hits.

“I am very satisfied and very happy, anyway – said Mosin after the match, while talking to the EBU microphones  – I was expecting to finish on the podium, and eventually I made it. It was very important for me to secure an Olympic Quota place!”

China’s Hu Binyuan, claiming the Bronze medal, also grabbed the last Olympic Quota place awarded in this final, securing a start in the next London 2012 Olympic Games.

The second American finalist, the 2008 Olympic finalist Jeffrey Holguin, 31, finished in fourth place with 192 (144+48) hits, missing the podium and the Olympic qualification by one target. The American shooter experienced a malfunction, and had to replace the spring of this trigger during the final round.

The fifth and the sixth place were taken by Richard Bogner of Hungary with 190 (145+45) targets and by Shih Wei Tin of Chinese Taipei with 188 (145+43) hits.

The Indian Double Trap shooter won Gold with a195 hits, after shooting 50 targets straight in the final. Sodhi sets now his next target “I want an Olympic Quota Place!”

“I made it in the Mecca of shotgun shooting!” exclaimed India’s Ronjan Sodhi, who won today’s Double Trap final at the 2010 ISSF Shotgun World Cup held in Lonato, in the heart of the Italian shotgun companies’ district.

“It has been a fantastic final! Hitting fifty targets straight in medal match is always a great accomplishment, but to do it here, shooting shoulder and shoulder with the best athletes of the world, feels simply great!” continued the 30-year old Indian athlete, who won today’s match with a total score of 195 targets, hitting 50 targets straight in the final.

After making it into the match in third place with a qualification score of 145 hits Sodhi played a perfect game. While his opponents started dropping a target after the other, the Indian sharpshooter hit them all, climbing in the lead with a perfect final score of 50 hits out of 50 clays. His final score of 195 targets turned out to be unbeatable for Russia’s Fokeev and Kuwait’s Aldeehani, who were left in second to shoot-off for Silver.

“I feel great. I am ready to go for the World Championship now. We have many important competitions this year, especially the Commonwealth Games in India. But my first goal is to grab a Quota Place at the World Championship in Munich!” said Sodhi, speaking about the 50th ISSF Word Championship in all events that will take place between July and August in Munich. There, the first 2012 Olympic Quota Places will be assigned to the best performers “Of course it would be great to finish on the podium there. But I would be pleased to get a quota, no matter what the final placement will be. I missed the last Games because I did no have a Quota… This time is not going to happen!”

“Ronjan is one of the best Double Trap shooters, in this moment” said the 2004 Double Trap Olympic Champion, Ahmed Almaktoum of the United Arab Emirates, who came here to follow the match, after he stopped shooting in 2008 “He has been improving a lot in the last years. I really think he can make it. My only advice, at this point, is to keep on doing what he is doing!”

The two shooters who had led the qualification rounds, Russia’s Vitaly Fokeev and Kuwait’s Fehaid Aldeehani, lost the chance to grab the Gold medal in the first half of the match. The two athletes, both qualified in the lead with 146 hits, missed three targets throughout the final, dropping down in second place behind Shodi and eventually finishing tied in second with 193 hits.

It was then the 36-year old Russian shooter Fokeev, raked sixth in the world, who won the shoot-off for the Silver medal with 193+8 hits, leaving his opponents Aldeehani the Bronze medal with a total score of 193+7 hits.

One of the favourites, China’s Mo Jiunjie, the winner of the 2009 ISSF World Cup Final and Gold medallist at the second World Cup Stage of the year in Beijing, finished in fourth place with a total score of 191+9 hits, after shooting off Great Britain’s Steven Scott, who closed in fifth with 191+8 hits. Hungary’s Richard Bognar placed in sixth, following them with 189 hits.

The 2007 Asian Champion, China’s Pan Qiang, won the Double Trap Men Final, equalling the World Record with a qualification score of 147 hits.

The Chinese athlete Pan Qiang won today’s Double Trap Men Final, winning his first ISSF World Cup Gold medal by shooting a record qualification score o f147 hits.

The 25-year old Chinese finalist, ranked eighteenth in the World, equalled the current World Record by hitting 147 targets during the qualifications, and walked into the final match with a three-target margin on his followers. Pan scored then 46 out of 50 targets during the final, claiming Gold with a total score of 193 hits, just three targets shy of equalling the Final World Record.

The 2006 World Champion Vitaly Fokeev of the Russian Federation followed him in second place, securing Silver with 190 hits, while the two American teammates Jeffrey Holguin and Joshua Richmond ended up in third and fourth place with 189 and 188 hits, respectively. Holguin had already won a Bronze medal at the first World Cup Stage of the year, in Acapulco (MEX), when Richmond had finished on the highest step of the podium.

The Olympic Silver medallist of Beijing Francesco D’Aniello, from Italy, closed the match in sixth and last place with a total of 180 targets, after qualifying for the medal match with the lowest qualification score (141 hits). The home shooter Peter Robert Wilson, 23, competing for the first time in a World Cup final match, preceded D’Aniello by finishing in fifth with a total score of 182 hits.