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The Chinese shooter left no chances t her opponents, ending up on the highest step of the podium with more than one point of margin on the followers. Australia’s Van Nus made it into her first ISSF World Cup final round in front of the home supporters.

The 2005 ISSF World Cup Final winner, China’s Wu Liuxi, secured Gold at today’s 50m Rifle Three Positions Women event, securing Gold with a total score of 681.3 points.

After entering the final round in the lead with 584 points, the 25-year old Chinese athlete (an Olympic Finalist of Beijing 2008) shoot solidly scoring 97.3 points in the final, claiming her first Gold of the season.

While Wu was getting closer and closer to the Gold medal, the crowd following the match at the Sydney Olympic Shooting Range cheered up for the home shooter Robyn Van Nus, 27, who had never made into an ISSF World Cup final round, before. The Australian athlete had made into the final in second spot with a qualification score of 583 points. Understandably nervous for her first final, she dropped a couple of shots in the eighth ring, ending up in fourth place, just a few tenths far from the podium, with a total score of 678.0 points.

“I’d never made a World Cup final and to do so in front of my home crowd on my training range was a fantastic experience for me,” Van Nus said. The 27-year old athlete has just moved to Sydney, and started training year four weeks ago.

“I was disappointed with my performance in the final but I can take a lot of encouragement out of today’s match. I will take part in the next ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning (USA) next May.” Concluded the home shooter.

The Silver medal went to the 25-year old Olympic Finalist of Beijing Jamie Beyerle of USA, who claimed her second medal in this World Cup stage following the Bronze she had won at the 10m Air Rifle Women event two days ago.

Bayerle entered the final round in fourth with 579 qualification points, moving then in the lead by shooting outstandingly in the final, 101.2 points, today’s highest final score, securing the medal with a total of 680.2 points.

“Today it was quite a difficult day for me, actually! I have been working a lot on my Prone, and I was quite satisfied by the prone round, today. But the conditions for the Standing are quite tricky here in Sydney…But of course I am happy about today’s final!” Said the American shooter right after the final.

“Now I will take part in some selection match for the ISSF World Championship, back home” Bayerle added, speaking at the ISSF TV microphones.

Today’s Bronze was won by Croatia’s Olympic Bronze medalist Snjezana Pejcic, 27-year old, who ended up on the third step of the podium with a total score of 678.7 (579+99.7) points.

Following Australia’s Van Nus, the second Chinese finalist Liu Bo closed the round in fifth with 677.6 points, preceding Malaysia’s Nur Suryani Modh Taibi, sixth with 679.1 points.

The seventh and eighth spots in the final were taken by Switzerland’s Annik Marguet, 28, and by Japan’s first time finalist Aeiko Iwata, 29, with 672.7 and672.4 points respectively.

Today’s 10m Air Pistol Women final has been a stage of success for both Korea and Australia. Korea’s Park Minjin won Gold at her first try: she had never competed in an ISSF international match before. Australia won its first medal thanks to Dina Aspandiyarova who came back to victory in an ISSF competition by claiming today’s Silver. She was the first Australian shooter to enter a final, during this ISSF World Cup in Sydney.

The whole Korean Shooting team sang their national anthem loud, at the end of today’s 10m Air Pistol Women Final, at the ISSF World Cup in Sydney. Their 22-year old teammate Park Minjin had just won the first Gold medal of her career.

The young shooter surprised everybody by winning Gold at her first try, outdoing former Olympic medallists and ISSF World Cup multi-medallists with apparent ease.

Park walked into the final round in fourth place with 382 points after the qualifications, two points behind the leader Chen Yan, of China and tied with the second Chinese finalist, the Olympic Champion of Beijing Guo Wenjun, currently ranked first in the world in this event.

Shooting consistently throughout the whole match, Park climbed and climbed, bouncing in the lead thanks to a final score of 102.2 points. Together with her qualification score, she totalized 484.2 points, securing Gold with a safe margin on her followers.

Coming in second, Dina Aspandiyarova won the first medal for the host country, Australia. The 33-year old Olympic finalist of Sydney 2000 ended up in second place with a total score of 481.7 (383+98.7) points, winning her first World Cup medal in this event.

Aspandiyarova was followed in third by the 2008 Olympic Champion Guo Wenjun, 25, from China. The world ranking leader, who had qualified tied with Park with 382 points, finished in third with a total score of 481.0 points, after shooting 99.0 points during the final. She had won her last World Cup medal in 2009, when she had closed the season with a Gold medal in Milan.

Two of the best pistol shooters of the World, Bulgaria’s Maria Grozdeva and Serbia’s Jasna Sekaric, ten Olympic medals between the two, finished in fourth and seventh place, with 480.7 and 477.2 points, respectively.

The second Korean finalist Jung Jeehae and the young Indian champion Shweta Chaudhry placed in fifth and sixth place, with 480.6 and 479.8 points, respectively.

The Olympic Champion Jin Johng Oh fired 12 shots during today’s 50m Pistol Men final round. After loosing the duel for Gold against China’s Lin, he had to pass through a shoot-off to secure Silver, but one shot was not enough to grant him the second step of the podium.

It was the last shot that decided today’s 50m Pistol Men final at the ISSF World Cup in Sydney, where the 2008 Olympic Champion of Beijing Jin Jong Oh of Korea and the 2007 World Cup Final winner Lin Zhongzai of China duelled right to the end to secure the highest step of the podium.

China’s Lin, 28-year old, a three-time World Cup Gold medallist, had started the round in the lead with 567 points after the qualifications, with one point of a head start over the Korean champion Jin Jong Oh, who walked into the match with 566 points.

During the ten-shot final, the Olympic Champion Jin shortened up the gap from the top of the scoreboard, taking advantage of a frustrating 7.2 scored by Lin.

After the ninth shot, Lin only had one tenth of a point of margin over Jin left, and the tenth and last final shot turned into a sort of shoot-off for the brightest medal.

Lin shooting first fired an 8.9, which usually would have been not enough to keep up with the Olympic Champion. But this time Jin did not take advantage of his opponent’s defiance, shooting a disappointing 8.1 that landed him in second place.

Lin Zhongzai, looking incredulous at the scores monitor, claimed Gold with a total score of 662.7 points.

Left in second place with a total score of 661.7 points, Jin Jong Oh found himself tied with the American shooter Daryl Szarenski, 42, who had started the match in first place, then sliding down on the scoreboard.

One shot was not enough to break the tie between the two contenders: both Jin and Szarenski scored a 10.0, and a further shot was needed to decide the podium placements. Eventually Jin gave his best, outscoring Szarenski by 10.5 to 9.2 points and securing the Silver medal with a total score of 661.9+10.0+10.5 points. Szarenski took the Bronze medal with 661.9+10.0+9.2 points.

Serbia’s Damir Mikec closed the round in fourth place with 652.3 points, followed by the two Russian teammates Denis Koulakov and Sergey Chervyakovsiy in fifth and sixth place with 648.9 and 648.7 points, respectively. Zhang Tian of China ended up in seventh with 644.1 points, while the first time finalist Lim Swee Hon of Singapore closed in eighth place with 640.0 points.

The 2008 10m Air Rifle Women Olympic Champion Emmons of Czech Republic came back to an ISSF World Cup after being away for awhile. Shooting in the lead since the first shot, she won today’s 10m Air Rifle Women final at the ISSF World Cup in Sydney.

The 2008 Olympic Champion of Beijing Katerina Emmons came back competing in an ISSF World Cup after having her daughter Julia, and she came back in the best possible way, by winning the 10m Air Rifle Women Gold medal. Making into the final with an outstanding qualification score of 399 points (one point far from the World Record she already holds), Emmons claimed Gold by shooting the highest final of the day (104.1 points), ending up on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 503.1 points.

Competing in front of a crowded final hall, at the 2000 Olympic Shooting Range of Sydney, the Czech Champion stepped on the podium holding on her baby daughter Julia, and received her first ISSF World Cup Gold medal since 2008.

Malaysia’s first time medallist, Nur Suryani Mohd Taibi, secured Silver by climbing the scoreboard all the way up from the eighth place. The 27-year old athlete had squeezed into the final round passing through a shoot-off, with a qualification score of 396 hits. Then, her final score of 103.8 points landed her in second place, to receive the first ISSF medal of her sport career , with a total of 499.8 points.

Also qualified for today’s final through a shoot-off with a score of 396 points, USA’s Olympic Finalist of Beijing Jamie Beyerle secured Bronze with a total score of 499.6 points. Shooting solidly, she scored 103.6 points throughout the final match, finishing just two tenths of a point far from the Silver medallist.

The 2008 and 2009 World Cup Final winner Wu Liuxi of China, currently ranked third in the World, did not make it to the podium, today. The 25-year old athlete ended up in fourth place with 499.2 points, missing the medals by a few determinant tenths. She was followed by Iran’s first time finalist Mahlagha Jambozorg, 18, who closed the round in fifth place after outdoing China’s Liu Bo in a shoot-off by 10.0 to 8.9 points.

The two teammates Lee Kyerim and Gu Sura of Korea, both competing in an ISSF international final for the first time, placed in seventh a and eighth place with 497.5 and 497.0 points, respectively.

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.