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Marian KOVACOCY, 24-year old, from Slovakia, is the new Trap Men World Champion. The Slovakian shooter won the Trap Men Final round with a total score of 146 hits, climbing up from the fifth place he held after the qualification rounds and upsetting any prediction.

“The shoot-off to get into the final has been quite stressing, but then I feld more confiident during the final round. It has been a tough match, but I feel great now!” Said KOVACOCY, who had to pass through a four-way shoot-off to enter the final round where he met Olympic and World Champions.

Shooting solidly, the Slovakian shooter missed only one clay throughout the 25-target final round, climbing in the lead and overtaking the Italian shooter Massimo FABBRIZI to win Gold. KOVACOCY had won the 2001 World Championship competing as junior athlete, but he had never made into a World Championship final round shooting between Seniors, before. “It’s different, it’s not comparable” only commented KOVACOCY, who did not climb on an ISSF podium since 2001 “You cannot compare two different categories! I really had no expectations for today’s match, the result came unexpected.  I cannot wait to celebrate with my teammates now!”

2005 World Champion Fabbrizi shot Silver.
Italy’s Massimo FABBRIZI, the 2005 World Champion, shot neck and neck with KOVACOCY right to the last shot, when the expert Italian fatally dropped his last target missing the highest step of the podium. Sliding in second place, FABBRIZI had to pass through a shoot-off against the Turkish shooter Oguzhan TUZUN to secure Silver with a total score of 145 hits +1 target in the shoot-off.

“You cannot imagine the pressure of such a match,” commented FABBRIZI after winning the shoot-off for Silver. The Italian shooter, winner of this year’s ISSF World Cup in Munich, suffered the stress of the match: “I was shooting next to an Olympic Champion, I did not expect that an outsider could make it. ..I congratulate Kovacocy.!I am really sorry I lost the Gold in this way. But at the same time, I am so proud I made it to the podium winning a Silver medal!”

By missing on the first shoot-off target, the 26-year old Turkish shooter TUNZUN placed in third winning Bronze with a total of 145 targets +0. TUNZUN, who had won the 1999 Junior World Championship of Tampere, had never made into a World Championship Senior final before.

The Olympic Champion in fourth: “…but it has been a positive season!”
The Olympic Champion of Beijing David KOSTELECKY of Czech Republic finished the match in fourth place, hitting a total of 144 targets. KOSTELECKY, who came from a Silver medal won at the last World Cup Stage of the year, said to be satisfied anyway “I really had a hard time following the Games, being under pressure” KOSTELECKY said; “My goal for this season was to make it at least into a final round. I shot three international finals, and I won a medal at the World Cup in San Marino. The balance of the season is therefore absolutely positive to me.” KOSTELECKY concluded: “Now I will take a few time off, I will shoot at the ISSF World Cup Final, but then I will try to regroup before the next season.”

Italy claimed teams’ Gold, followed by Slovakia and Czech Republic
FABBRIZI’s score, combined with the good results reached by his teammates Giovanni PELLIELO and Erminio FRASCA, brought Italy on the highest step of the teams podium. The overall score of 362 targets placed Italy in first with one target of advantage on KOVACOCY’s Slovakia.

Slovakia’s team (KOVACOCY, FILIPOVIC, VARGA) placed in second securing the teams’ Silver with a combined score of 361 targets. Czech Republic tied Slovakia. The team leaded by the Olympic Champion KOSTELECKY (KOSTELECKY, DANEK and LIPTAK) shot a total of 361 targets as well.

The World Championship continues.
The 2009 ISSF World Championship continues with the Trap Women and the Trap Women Junior events. The competitions will start tomorrow with the official training, and will continue the 11th with the qualification and the Trap Women Final round which will assign the next medals.

The 16-year old Italian shooter Valerio GRAZINI claimed the first place on the Trap Men Junior podium with a final score of 122 hits out of 125 targets, concluding his match with a perfect game of 25 hits on his last round.

GRAZINI fought neck and neck against the 19-year old Junior European Champion Paco MACHADO of Spain, who ended up in second with a total score of 121 hits after dropping a fatal target on his last round.

“This is my first international medal! It has been great!” Said GRAZINI right after the last round “I had won two team awards at the European Championships, but this is my first individual podium!”

“I did not shoot at my best during the training, so I was kind of scared… but then confidence started peaking through the competition, and I found my best condition. Actually, my usual average is not that high. 122 targets is a great score for me! The shooting range seems excellent, so were the targets!” concluded GRAZINI.

Paco MACHADO, 19, coming from a victory at July’s European Championship of Osijek, finished in second place, winning Silver with a total score of 121 hits. The Bronze medal went to Germany’s Daniel WIESEMANN, 19-year old, participating in his first ISSF World Championship. WEISSMAN climbed upon the podium with a total score of 120 hits after winning 1 to 0 a shoot-off against Portugal’s Pedro Jorge Nun PARREIRA, who eventually finished in fourth place.

Team’s competition: Grazini’s Italy shot Gold
Grazini’s 122-target final score lifted the Italian team (Grazini, Fanali and Fioravanti) on the highest step of the teams’ podium. The Italian shooters won Gold with an overall score of 354 targets.

The United States of America finished in second place, securing Silver with the total score of 347 targets shot by Collin Craig Wietfeldt, Jacob Turner and Seth Politi.

The Trap Men Junior teams’ Bronze medal went to Portugal (Perreira, Diogo Rosario and Sousa Campos), with a total score of 346 targets, turning out to be only one target shy of tying the USA in second place.