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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 reigning Skeet World Champion Georgios ACHILLEOS, 28, from Cyprus, won the Skeet Men competition at the ISSF World Cup in San Marino. The Cypriot shooter placed in first with a total score of 146 targets, after a qualification of 121 targets, and a perfect final of 25 hits.

“It’s great to be back atop of an ISSF podium” Said ACHILLEOS, who had won his last World Cup Gold medal at the 2008 stage of Belgrade. “It has not been easy today. We all struggled with the settings of these target machines.”

“Results speak by themselves: we shot-off to get into the final match with 123 targets, in Munich, and I won today’s match coming from a qualification of 121 hits.” Said the Cypriot champion, who won a Silver medal at the last World Cup stage of Munich.

“I am heading to the Mediterranean Games of Pescara, now. That’s my next biggest event, and I really hope to perform well even there.” Concluded ACHILLEOS, speaking about the Mediterranean Games which will take place starting from the next week.

Zaid ALMUTAIRI, shooting as fast as always, won today’s Silver medal with a total score of 145 targets. The 27-year old Kuwaiti athlete won the second world cup medal of his shooting career by shooting a strong score of 24 targets in the final, after a qualification of 121 hits.

A shoot-off to assign Bronze
The Bronze medal was assigned through a shoot-off, as Norway’s Tore BROVOLD and Germany’s Axel WEGNER ended up the final round with an equal score of 143 targets.

The Olympic Silver medallist BROVOLD won the duel for the podium, claiming Bronze with 8 hits in the shoot-off. The 1998 Olympic Champion WEGNER missed his eighth shoot-off target, shooting himself in fourth place where he landed with a total score of 143 +7 hits.

“I was tired of getting fourth places!” said the Norwegian Champion BROVOLD, smiling after the award ceremony. He had placed in fourth at the last ISSF World Cup stage of Munich “It hasn’t been easy;” He added, commenting on today’s competition; “we have been fighting with range’s settings yesterday and today. I am happy I made it to the podium…”

The second Norwegian finalist, Harald JENSEN, finished in fifth palce with a total score of 142 hits, after outdoing 6 to 5 hits in a shoot-off Denmark’s Jesper HANSEN, today’s sixth.

Competing in the rain, the reigning World Champion LIU Yingzi, 38, from China, won the Trap Women final of the ISSF Shotgun Word Cup stage of Minsk.

The Chinese shooter, who had never won an ISSF World Cup Gold medal before, finished on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 90 hits (69+21), after making up the three-target disadvantage she had from the qualification’s leader STEFECEKOVA.

Following the morning’s qualifications, LIU had walked into the final in third place with a score od 69 hits. The final round took then place under the rain, and the Chinese shooter managed to exploit her opponents’ difficulties to climb up the scoreboard with a final of 21 hits.

Behind LIU, Susanne KIERMAYER of Germany, Jessica ROSSI of Italy and Zuzana STEFECEKOVA of Slovakia tied in second place with a total score of 88 targets, and had to pass through a shoot-off to assign Silver and Bronze.

The 25-year old Slovakian World Record holder Zuzana STEFECEKOVA missed the very first shoot-off target, placing herself in fourth with a total score of 88 (71+17) +0 targets.

Susanne KIERMAYER of Germany, who had climbed from the sixth place, landed in third winning Bronze as she dropped her fourth shoot-off clay finishing on the third step of the podium with a total score of 88 (68+20) +3 targets.  “I am happy of my Bronze, but it has not been easy today! To shoot in rain it was difficult. I had to keep wiping off my glasses!”

Today’s youngest finalist, Jessica ROSSI, 17-years old, form Italy, outdid KIERMAYER, winning the shoot-off and grabbing the Silver medal with a total score of 88 (70+18) +4 targets. The Italian shooter had claimed a Silver medal also at this year’s first ISSF World Cup Stage in Cairo. She said “I did not expect such a result: two medals out of two competitions! But I am not completely satisfied about today’s match. I missed so many targets at the beginning of the final round… Luckily I went back on tracks just in time to made into the shoot-off for the podium!”

The People’s Republic of China had entered three shooters into today’s Trap Women final round. Following a few targets behing the Gold medallist LIU, the Silver medallist of this year’s World Cup in Munich LU Xingyu and the 2006 Asian Champion LI Chen placed in fifth and sixth place, respectively.