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The American team keeps on winning at the ISSF World Cup in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events in Beijing. Joseph Hein and Eric Uptagrafft finished on the podium of the 50m Rifle Prone Men event, securing Gold and Silver. Germany’s Henri Junghaenel claimed Silver squeezing between them by a few tenths.

Three shooters entered the 50m Rifle Prone match tied in the lead with 598 points after the qualifications, and fought right to the end for the Gold.

USA’s Joseph Hein and Eric Uptagrafft, and the German shooter Henri Junghaenel went back and forth in first, second and third position throughout the ten-shot final, in a close battle for the medals.

Joseph Hein, 28, competing in an ISSF Word Cup final round for the first time in the 50m Rifle Prone Men event, started off the round with a great 10.8 that put him in the lead. In spite of struggling on the third and fourth shot (when he scored two 9.9), the young American shooter managed to keep the leadership by a few, precious, tenths, by shooting a couple of great shots in the inner tenths. The 28-year old athlete eventually finished on the highest step of the podium, claiming Gold with a total score of 702.2 points (598+104.2), and just three tenths of advantage on the Silver medallist.

His teammate Eric Uptagrafft and Germany’s Henri Junghaenel duelled right to the last shot for the Silver medal. The experienced 44-year old American shooter (a 1996 Olympian who scored a world record in 2005) lost his chance at the last shot by firing a frustrating 9.9 that landed him in third place with a total score of 701.2 points. On the other side, the 22-year old first time finalist Junghaenel closed the round with an outstanding 10.8, finishing on the second step of the podium with a total score of 701.9 points, just seven tenths more than Uptagrafft.

Uptagrafft, coming back on an ISSF podium after missing since 2005, also risked loosing the Bronze, as the two-time Olympic Bronze medallist Segei Martynov of Belarus placed in fourth just one tenth of a point behind him. Martinov indeed closed with a total score of 701.1 points, climbing up from the eighth qualification spot by shooting today’s highest score in the final, 105.1 points. The Belarusian shooter had won a World Cup Bronze just a few weeks ago, at the first ISSF World Cup Stage of the season, in Sydney.

France’s Josselin Henry finished in fourth, followed by the second German finalist, Maik Eckhardt. The four-time Russian Olympian Artem Khadjibekov followed them in seventh, while Japan’s Toshikazu Yamashita closed the match in eighth place.

The first ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup of the year kicked-off in Sydney, Australia, today. Shooters from all around the world will compete here right to the 28th of March.

The 2010 ISSF World Cup in Rifle and Pistol events kicked-off today in Sydney, Australia, where more than 200 shooters will compete from the 21^st to the 28^th of March.

“I welcome the shooters to the first ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup stage of the year in behalf of the International Shooting Sport Federation” said the ISSF Technical Delegate for this event, Mr Woo Jae Lee from Korea, during the opening ceremony.

Mr Peter Sharp of the Australian Sport Commission, and the President of the Organizing Committee, Mr Nick Sullivan, welcomed the shooters to the 2000 Olympic Shooting Range of Sydney, where the athletes will compete in the ten Olympic events of Rifle and Pistol Shooting. A symbolic shot of cannon was then fired, and the competition officially opened.

Here, athletes coming from more than 25 countries will have a chance to obtain their Minimum Qualification Scores, a fundamental step on the path leading to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Competitors shoot at a stationary target consisting of ten concentric rings, with the innermost being the ‘inner ten’ with a diameter of 5 mm. The targets are placed 50m away and shooters fire from the prone position.

The Rifle is of .22 (“Small-bore”) calibre with an maximum permissible weight of 8kg for men and 6.5 kg for women.

60 shots (including unlimited sighters) are fired in 75minutes. This gives a score out of 600.

In the Men’s 50m Prone event, the best eight shooters from this opening program qualify for the final, which consists of ten further shots, each fired on command. Each shot is evaluated in decimal tenths (10.9 being the maximum). The decimal score gives a maximum “Final” score of 109. The “Final” Score is added to the score from the opening program, giving a maximum score of 709.

The Women’s 50m Prone event has no “Final” Event and positions are decided from the 60-shot score.