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“Finally a gold medal came. I made into five out of six final matches, throughout the last two World Cup stages… I was looking for this medal” Said the young athlete right after the final match, where he upset the 2000 Olympic Champion Rajmond DEBEVEC of Slovenia to climb on the highest step of the podium.

BAKKEN has won two ISSF World Cup medals within a few days. He had placed in third in the 50m Rifle Prone men competition, at the 1st ISSF World Cup Stage held last week in Changwon, Korea, and he surprised everybody by winning today’s gold.

The Norwegian athlete had never participated in world-level competition until two weeks ago. The debuting rifle shooter had shot a few fair placements at the European Championships, in 2007 and 2008, but he had never had a chance to prove his skills in a world arena such as the ISSF World Cup in Olympic events.

“I started shooting Olympic events when I was 16 – said Bakken – but my results peaked in the last two years. It’s great to be on the podium today!” continued the Norwegian athlete.
“Five finals, in three different Olympic rifle events, within 2 weeks… I had never seen something like this!” commented about Bakken’s result Herald Stenvaag, Norway’s six times Olympians.

“London 2012 is in my dream!” said the 20-year old shooter “I want to shoot well in this year World Cup series, and then at the 2010 World Championships. I could not make it for Beijing. London is still far, but that’s my big goal!”

Today’s silver medal went to 2000 Olympic Champion and 2008 Olympic Bronze medallist Rajmond Debevec, 46, who finished the final round in second place with 1275.9 points (1180+95.9). After a consistent qualification, the Slovenian champion struggled in the final match, and was overcome by his young opponent.

Debevec had finished in the spotlights at the 2008 Games, held in the same final all where he shot silver today. Today’s podium brought the medal-counter of the Slovenian shooter over 55 World Cup awards, an outstanding results reached throughout more then 30 years of successful activity as international shooter.

Serbia’s Stevan PLETIKOSIC, 37, won today’s Bronze medal with 1271.4 points (1173+98.4). The Serbian shooter defended his qualification’s placement from the assault of the Hungarian shooter Peter SIDI, 30, who climbed up from the eight place coming as close as three tenths of a point to Pletikosic by shooting today’s best final. Sidi finished in fourth with 1271.1 points (1169+102.1).

Alexandre SOKOLOV (RUS) closed in 5th place with 1269.5 pts (1171+98.5); Jinseop HAN (KOR) finished in 6th place with 1269.4 pts (1170+99.4); Denis WEIGART of Germany placed 7th with 1268.3 pts (1170+98.3). The home shooter, China’s ZHANG Lei, finished in eight and last place with 1268.0 pts (1172+96.0).

The American athlete shot a total of 780.5 points (584+196.5), finishing in the lead with one tenth of a point of advantage on the following Vijay KUMAR, silver medallist with 780.4 pts ((581+199.4).

“I had memories of the Olympic Games going through my mind” said Sanderson, who had competed in this range at the last Games, struggling during the Olympic final round, and eventually landing in fifth place. He said: “I’ve been replaying the Olympic final and these targets so many times, after the Games, that I still remember them”

“I had so many things going through my head, today” Sanderson concluded “I am happy I was able to win the Gold medal. Next stop: Munich, for the next world cup stage”.

India’s Vijay KUMAR, a 23-year old shooter, 26th in the World Ranking, climbed all the way from the fourth place to win silver with 780.4 points (581+199.4). His score in the final match, 199.4 points, turned out to be the highest of today’s competition.

The Indian athlete had never won an ISSF medal in this event, but Beijing seems to be his favourite range. Here he had indeed shot his best placement, when he had finished in seventh place at the 2008 pre-Olympic world cup.

Bronze was secured by Japan’s Teruyoshi AKIMATA, 37, a long-course shooter who had never entered a world cup final-match before. AKIMATA shot the second highest final score, 198.5 points, climbing from the sixth place he had after the qualifications. The Japanese shooter grabbed his first world-level medal with a total score of 777.5 points (579+198.5).

Russia’s Dmitry BRAYKO finished in fourth place with 776.1 points (581+195.1), followed by Jan-Marcel GOELDEN of Germany, fifth with 774.4 pts (580+194.4) and by Jeorge LLAMES of Spain, sixth with 773.7 pts (581+192.7).

China’s HU Jun won today’s match with 490.5 points (390 +100.5). The pistol shooter had won a silver medal at the 2006 ISSF World Championships of Zagreb and a bronze at that year’s world cup final held in Granada. She had shot her last podium in 2007, when she won the world cup stage in Sydney.

Silver went to today’s youngest finalist Heena SIDHU, 19, from India, who scored the highest final climbing from the fifth place with 486.8 points (quail: 385+ final: 101.8). “I can’t believe it, I can’t really comment on this final!” Said the young Indian shooter, who had never won World Cup medal before.

“I feel numb at the moment!” Heena exclaimed in a smile. “This is my second participation in a world cup. I have been competing in Changwon last week, but I did not shot a great competition there. I was happy to be into the final match, today, but actually I did not expect a medal…”

“It’s amazing to be standing where the games took place” concluded the Indian shooter while speaking at the microphones of the ISSF TV “Now I am planning to come to the world cup stage held in Munich, next May…”

Today’s Bronze went to the Czech champion Lenka MARUSKOVA, 24, third with 485.9 pts (385+100.9). The Czech shooter keeps on securing prestigious placements, after the Bronze she has grabbed at the European Championships of Prague, last February.

Lalita YAUHLEUSKAYA of Australia (on the podium of the 25m pistol women event a couple of days ago), lost the duel against Maruskova and missed today’s award ceremony after firing a frustrating last shot of 8.2 points. She placed in fourth with 483.0 pts (386+97.0).

Belarus’ Viktoria CHAIKA placed in fifth with 482.8 pts (387+95.8); Korea’s LEE Ho Lim, silver medal winner at the previous world cup stage held in Changwon, finished in sixth with 482.6 pts (382+100.6), after squeezing into the eight-shooters final by winning a shoot-off against China’s Xin TONG.

The second Chinese finalist SHENG Jie placed seventh 481.9 pnts (384+97.9), preceding France Celine GOBERVILLE, eighth with 479.0 pts (385+94.0).

The 2004 Olympic Champion of Athens Lioubov GALKINA of Russia won today’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions women competition at the 2nd leg of the 2009 ISSF World Cup Series in rifle and pistol events.

The 36-year old Russian shooter placed in first since the qualifications, and shot gold with a total score of 679.9 points (578+101.9) after managing a consistent head-start throughout the 10 final shots. GALKINA, one of the most expert rifle shooter of the actual shooting scene, had struggled at the last Games held on these lines last August. She had placed in fourth after a tough match eventually won by China’s DU Li.

The host country, China, secured silver and bronze thanks to XIONG Meili and WAN XIangyan.

XIONG Meili, 22, placed in second winning silver with 675.8 points (577+98.8), an exceptional result considering that she had never competed in a world-level event before.

XIONG’s team-mate, 22-year old WAN Xiangyan, shot Bronze, her second international medal following the silver she claimed at the last ISSF World Cup Stage held in Changwon last week. WAN shot a qualification score of 568 points, entering the medal match in seventh place. Then she scored the best final, climbing to the podium with 102.7 points.

WAN won her race for the podium defeating on the last shot the Japanese finalist Yuka NAKAMURA, 21-year old, competing in her first final today. She fired a last shot of 9.8 points, which could not stand to WAN’s 10.8, finishing in fourth with a score of 669.7 points.

Germany’s Claudia KECK, 23, debuted in the final hall, today. Qualified with 570 points, she fired a final of 99.6 points, placing in fifth with a total of 669.6 points. She preceded the France athlete Soleig BIBARD, 29, sixth with 668.0 pts (569+99.0) and the Finnish shooter Hanna ETULA, 28, seventh with 666.7 pts (569+97.7).

Israel’s Chen TAL, who had never entered a world cup final round before, placed in eight with 661.3 pts (568+93.3).

China’s SHI Xinglong, 32, won gold at the 10m Pistol Men medal match at the second stage of the ISSF World Cup Series held in Beijing.
SHI shot 683.0 points (582+101.0), climbing from the fifth place to win his second medal in this event, after the Bronze he secured at the first leg of the ISSF World Cup Series in Changwon, Korea, last week.

Shi’s team-mate MAI Jiajie, 21-year old, followed his older team-mate on the podium by shooting silver with 682.8 points (582+100.8). The young athlete won several junior awards, like a bronze at the 2006 ISSF World Championships of Zagreb and a gold at the 2007 Asian Championships, but he had never made into the senior team to compete in a world cup before.

The long experienced 38-year old shooter Yury DAUHAPOLAU finished on the podium grabbing Bronze at the last shot with a total score of 682.5 points (583+99.5). Belarus’ pistol champion came from a fourth place at the European Championships, held last February in Prague, and gave his best to secure a spot on the podium here in Beijing. Starting in second place after the qualifications, he shot neck and neck against the two Chinese team-mates right to the end. An unlucky shot, an 8.7 fired on his ninth competition shot, pushed him in third place, where he closed the match only 3 tenths behind China’s Mai.

Rashid YUNUSMETOV, the Kazakh shooter who won the 50m Pistol event held two days ago, made into his second consecutive medal match. His qualification score of 581 points, and a final of 98.0 points, stopped him in eight place.

Germany’s Patrik LENGERER, 27, finished the first final round of his career in fourth place with 681.5 pts (585+96.5). He was followed by Russia’s Vladimir GONTCHAROV, fifth with 680.6 pts (582+98.6), and by Pavol KOPP of Slovakia, sixth with 680.5 pts (582+99.5). Denis KOULAKOV, the second Russian shooter, placed seventh with 680.2 pts (581+99.2).