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China’s 2007 World Champ Liu Yingzi secured the Gold medal by beating the 2010 and 2002 World Champions Stefecekova (SVK) and Tkach (RUS).

China’s 40-year old Liu Yingzi won today’s Trap Women final at the 2011 ISSF Shotgun World Championship, held in Belgrade from the 3rd through the 14th of September.

The Chinese shooter, a 2007 World Champion currently ranked fifth in the world, made it to the final round with a qualification score of 72 hits, after winning a seven-way shoot-off with 3 hits.

After starting with two zeros on her second and third targets, Liu did not drop any other clay, and cleared the final round with 23 hits. With a total score of 95 targets, the athlete from Chang Sha secured the World’s brightest medal for the second time in her career (she had won her first title at the 2007 World Championship in Nicosia, Cyprus).

The Chinese athlete will now compete at the ISSF World Cup Final, which will kick-off in Al Ain (UAE) on the 31st of September. There, she will try to defend the World Cup Title she won last year, at the 2010 ISSF World Cup Final in Izmir.

Climbing up to the highest step of the podium, Liu left the so-far reigning World Champion Zuzana Stefecekova three targets behind her.

The 27-year old Slovakian champion had started the final match tied to Liu, with a qualification score of 72 hits. But then, as the light started changing during the final, she dropped five targets, ending up in second with a total score of 92 hits.

Following her, it was Russia’s Elena Tkach, the 2002 World Champion, who secured the Bronze medal with a totals score of 89 hits. The 41-year old Russian shooter scored 19 targets during the final, after being qualified in first with 73 hits.

The Olympic Quota Place to be assigned here went to India’s Shagun Chowdhary, a 28-year old first time finalist. The young athlete, ranked 21st in the world, made it to the final round with 72 hits, and pocketed the entrance ticket to the Games by finishing in fourth with a total score of 89 hits. She was followed by Australia’s Catherine Skinner, who scored 89 targets as well and lost the Quota due to the “Count Back” rule: who misses first, ranks worst. USA’s Olympic Bronze medallist, Corey Cogdell, closed the match in sixth place with 88 (72+16) hits.

RUSSIA LED THE TEAMS’ RANKING

Elena Tkach’s Russia (Tkach, Irina Laricheva and Tatiana Barsuk) won the team Gold medal with an overall score of 213 hits, setting a new World Record which shattered the previous 211-record scored by Italy at the 2009 World Championship. The three Russian teammates shared their new record with France (Marina Sauzet, Delphine Racinet, Stephanie Neau), as they scored 213 targets as well. The Teams’ Bronze medal went to the People’s Republic of China. The team led by Liu (Liu Ingzi, Gao E and Wu Cuicui) totalized 211 targets.

China’s 2007 World Champ Liu Yingzi secured the Gold medal by beating the 2010 and 2002 World Champions Stefecekova (SVK) and Tkach (RUS).

China’s 40-year old Liu Yingzi won today’s Trap Women final at the 2011 ISSF Shotgun World Championship, held in Belgrade from the 3^rd through the 14^th of September.

The Chinese shooter, a 2007 World Champion currently ranked fifth in the world, made it to the final round with a qualification score of 72 hits, after winning a seven-way shoot-off with 3 hits.

After starting with two zeros on her second and third targets, Liu did not drop any other clay, and cleared the final round with 23 hits. With a total score of 95 targets, the athlete from Chang Sha secured the World’s brightest medal for the second time in her career (she had won her first title at the 2007 World Championship in Nicosia, Cyprus).

The Chinese athlete will now compete at the ISSF World Cup Final, which will kick-off in Al Ain (UAE) on the 31^st of September. There, she will try to defend the World Cup Title she won last year, at the 2010 ISSF World Cup Final in Izmir.

Climbing up to the highest step of the podium, Liu left the so-far reigning World Champion Zuzana Stefecekova three targets behind her.

The 27-year old Slovakian champion had started the final match tied to Liu, with a qualification score of 72 hits. But then, as the light started changing during the final, she dropped five targets, ending up in second with a total score of 92 hits.

Following her, it was Russia’s Elena Tkach, the 2002 World Champion, who secured the Bronze medal with a totals score of 89 hits. The 41-year old Russian shooter scored 19 targets during the final, after being qualified in first with 73 hits.

The Olympic Quota Place to be assigned here went to India’s Shagun Chowdhary, a 28-year old first time finalist. The young athlete, ranked 21^st in the world, made it to the final round with 72 hits, and pocketed the entrance ticket to the Games by finishing in fourth with a total score of 89 hits. She was followed by Australia’s Catherine Skinner, who scored 89 targets as well and lost the Quota due to the “Count Back” rule: who misses first, ranks worst. USA’s Olympic Bronze medallist, Corey Cogdell, closed the match in sixth place with 88 (72+16) hits.

RUSSIA LED THE TEAMS’ RANKING

Elena Tkach’s Russia (Tkach, Irina Laricheva and Tatiana Barsuk) won the team Gold medal with an overall score of 213 hits, setting a new World Record which shattered the previous 211-record scored by Italy at the 2009 World Championship. The three Russian teammates shared their new record with France (Marina Sauzet, Delphine Racinet, Stephanie Neau), as they scored 213 targets as well. The Teams’ Bronze medal went to the People’s Republic of China. The team led by Liu (Liu Ingzi, Gao E and Wu Cuicui) totalized 211 targets.

The 19-year old American shooter climbed in the lead with 2 targtes of advantage on Slovakia’s Stefeckova. Olympic Quota Places went to Germany’s Quooss and to France’s Racinet.

USA’s 19-year old shooter Rachael Lynn Heiden won today’s Trap Women Final, the opening match of the 2011 ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Maribor, Slovenia.

The young athlete squeezed into the final by passing through a qualification shoot-off with 72+4 targets, climbing then in the lead by hitting 23 clays during the medal match. Ending up with a total of 95 hits, Heiden won her first international Gold medal, leaving her opponents two targets behind her.

“It feels great!” the American shooter said right after the final.

“I had missed out at the previous World Cup Stage in Beijing… but everything came up nicely here in Maribor.”Heiden commented: she had placed in second after a shoot-off at the previous ISSF world cup stage, held on the layouts of the Olympic shooting range of Beijing last April.

The up-and-coming athlete, who won a Bronze at the 2010 ISSF World Championship in Munich shooting in the Junior category, had also finished in the spotlights at the 2010 Continental American Championship in Rio de Janeiro by finishing on the second step of the podium.

“I started shooting when my brother and a neighbour decided to start up a shooting team. I tried and I loved it!” She said.

“I started shooting Skeet, but then I switched to Trap – I like trap people!” The 19- concluded, with a smile on her face.

The Silver medal went to the 27-year old world record holder, Slovakia’s Zuzana Stefecekova, who ended up with a total score of 93 targets, after hitting 21 targets in the final. The Olympic Silver medallist of Beijing 2008 had won a World Cup Final here in Maribor in 2004, and was missing from an ISSF podium since the 2010 ISSF World Cup Stage held in Lonato.

It was a shoot-off to decide the battle for the Bronze medal. Two German teammates, Quooss and Scheibel, and China’s Liu Yingzi, finished indeed tied with a total of 92 hits after a neck and neck final.

At the 4th shoot-off target, it was Liu who made it to the podium, beating her two opponents with a  total score of 92+4 targets. Liu had made it to the final by hitting 74 targets throughout the qualifications, equalling the current World Record. The 2010 ISSF World Cup Final winner secured her first medal of the season, also booking a spot at the 2011 World Cup Final in Al-Ain where she will defend her title next September.

The 2011 ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Maribor is the fourth and last ISSF World Cup stage of the year. 592 shooters coming from 77 countries are participating in the event, trying to secure one of the London 2012 Olympic Quota Places awarded here.

The ISSF World Cup Series will then be concluded at the 2011 ISSF Shotgun World Cup Final in Al-Ain (UAE), where the best shooters of the season will meet from the 30th of September to the 7th of October.

The Chinese champion sis getting used to compete in extreme weather conditions. She had won last year’s ISSF World Cup Final in Beijing shooting under the snow, she finished first in spite of the wind in Izmir this year.

Liu Yingzi of China defended the title she had won at the 2009 World Cup Final in Beijing, last year. The Chinese shooter won indeed today’s Trap Women match at this year’s ISSF World Cup Final in Izmir, outdoing Italy’s Jessica Rossi in a shoot-off for Gold.

Shooting in the wind, the Chinese athlete entered into the final match with one of the lowest qualification scores, 67 targets, but then turned out to be the most consistent shooter during the medal match. Hitting 24 out of 25 final targets, the experiences athlete climbed up the scoreboard, eventually tying Italy’s Rossi in the lead.

Liu won then the shoot-off for Gold with 4 hits to Rossi’s 3, ending up on the highest step of the ISSF World Cup Final for the second, consecutive time with a total score of 91+4 hits.

Rossi, the 2009 World Champion of Maribor, ended up in second place with a total of 91+3 hits, while the Bronze went to Russia’s Maria Volkova who closed the round in third with a total of 89+1 after outdoing Slovakia’s Stefecekova in a shoot-off for the podium.

“It’s the end of the season, and we are all quite tired.” Stefecekova said right after the final. The young Slovakian shooter won the ISSF World Championship held in Munich just a few weeks ago “It’s not a matter of motivation, but I am coming from a long season. I grabbed the world title and secured an Olympic Quota place, and after that the stress faded out…”

“It was extremely windy, and dusty, today.” continued the Slovakian Champion, who had to fight against the wind throughout the whole qualification round “I don’t really like this range, also because of its background. But that’s the same for everybody, at the end, and I am quite happy with my scores”

Stefecekova is the new Trap Women World Champion. The Slovakian champion, China’s Liu Yingzi and Italy’s Rossi secured the first 2012 Olympic Quota Places qualifications for Shotgun shooting.

Zuzana Stefecekova, 26, from Slovakia, is the new Trap Women World Champion, as well as the first Shotgun shooter qualified for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Stefecekova, the Silver medallist of the 2008 Beijing’s Games, won the Trap Women final round at the 50th ISSF World Championship, the first London 2012 Olympic Qualifying event, with a total score of 91 (72+19) hits.

The Slovakian athlete secured the brightest medal and the qualification spot at the very last shot, outdoing the Chinese champion Liu Yingzi, who dropped the last target putting herself in second place with a total score of 89 (72+17) targets.

This is the first World Championship title won by the Zuzana Stefecekova, who has been competing in eight ISSF World Championships editions since 1999, winning two Bronze medals, in 2002 and 2003.

The fight for the Bronze and the third Quota turned into an Italian Drama. The title defender, the 18-year old prodigy Jessica Rossi of Italy, did not play her best final today, missing several targets throughout the first part of the competition.

To climb on the third step of the podium and to grab the last Olympic Quota Place to be awarded in this event she had to outdo her teammate Deborah Gelisio by 3 to 2 hits in a shoot-off.

Rossi, who had been elected 2009 Shooter of the Year by the International Sport Press Association AIPS, finished today’s match in third with a total score of 87 (71+16) targets, + 3 targets scored in the shoot-off. At the same time, by dropping the last shoot-off target, the 2000 Olympic Silver medallist Gelisio ended up in fourth place with a total score of 87 (71+16) targets, + 2 targets in the shoot-off, missing the Olympic Quota Place by one target.

North Korea’s Yong Hui Pak closed in fifth place with 86 (71+15) hits, while Japan’s Yukie Nakayama (fourth at the 2008 Olympic Games) finished in sixth and last place with a total score of 85 (71+14) targets.