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The 2004 Olympic Champion and 2008 Olympic Silver medallist Zhu Qinan of China won today’s 10m Air Rifle Men event, the first final round of the 2010 ISSF World Cup in Rifle and Pistol events in Fort Benning.

“This has been my best final since the 2004 Olympics!” exclaimed the 2004 Olympic Champion Zhu Qinan of China, right after the last shot of today’s 10m Air Rifle Men final at the ISSF World Cup in Rifle and Pistol events in Fort Benning, USA.

The 25-year old Chinese shooter, currently ranked first in the world in this event, led the competition since the qualifications. Making it into the final match with the top qualification score of 599 points (just one point shy of tying the world record), Zhu shot 104.1 points throughout the ten final shot. Finishing in first place with a total score of 703.1 points, he secured his tenth ISSF World Cup Gold medal.

“I had been a little unlucky in Beijing, a few weeks ago” said Zhu, who had placed in second at the last ISSF World Cup Stage held on the lines of the 2008 Olympic venues, last April. In that occasion, he missed the gold by a narrow margin of 0.1 points “It is not only that I missed Gold for one tenth of a point… I wasn’t satisfied of my shooting!”

“After that World Cup in Beijing I have been working on a new training schedule, and it paid off. – Kept on explaining the Chinese champion “I really feel that today’s has been my best final since a few years!”

“I want to be the World Champion, now. Nothing less!” continued Zhu, mentioning the 50th ISSF World Championship in all events, which will take place in Munich between July and August, this year. “The first quota places for the 2012 Olympics will be awarded there, but my final goal is to become World Champion!” concluded the Chinese shooter, who had finished in third at the lat ISSF World Championship edition, in Zagreb, in 2006.

The Chinese team also celebrated the Silver medal won by Zhu’s teammate Wang Tao, competing in his second ISSF World Cup event, today. The 27-year old shooter finished in second place claiming Silver with a total score of 701.2 points (597+104.2), climbing from the fifth place by shooting today’s highest final score.

“I knew I was doing well, and that I was climbing up– said Wang, wearing his first ISSF medal – but I did not expect to finish on the podium. It is a great honour for me to step on this podium next to my teammate Zhu Qinan, our best shooter!”

Bronze went to Russia’s Serguei Kruglov, 25, the 2010 European Champion of Meraker. The Russian shooter, starting off the final in third place with 597 points, shot 103.9 points throughout the ten-shot final, overtaking his teammate Prikhodtchenko to finish on the third step of the podium with a total score of 700.9 points.

400 shooters will compete in the third step of this year’s Rifle and Pistol World Cup Series which started-off at the international shooting range of Fort Benning, Gerogia, USA.

Following the first two steps of Sydney and Beijing, the ISSF World Cup Series in Rifle and Pistol events moved to USA, where about 400 shooters coming from 52 countries came to compete in the ten Olympic events of Rifle and Pistol shooting at the International Shooting Range of Fort Benning, Georgia.

The official start to the competition was given at the opening ceremony held at the new Ft. Benning’s Infantry Musueum, where athletes’ delegations had a chance to meet the organizers and the official of the World Cup event.

Lindsay Brooke, the Deputy Chief of the 2010 World Cup Organizing Committee, started off the ceremony by welcoming the athletes: “We are grateful for such strong participation this year and we look forward to providing you with the best possible experience here!” she said, leaving then the stage to Mr. Robert Mitchell, USA Shooting Executive Director and member of the ISSF Executive Committee, and to Mr. Gary Anderson, the ISSF Vice President and President of USA Shooting, who addressed a welcome peech to athletes and local authorities.

“On behalf of the ISSF and USA Shooting, I’d like to welcome the best rifle and pistol shooters of the world. – said Mr. Anderson – Welcome to USA and to the 2010 ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning!”

“We are honoured to organize this World Cup and to once agaig bring together the worldwide shooting sport family!” concluded Mr. Anderson, before declaring the competition officially opened.

FIRST MEDALS:

The 10m Air Rifle Men and the 10m Air Pistol Women, the first two medal matches of this ISSF World Cup Stage, will take place today, May the 24th, at 12.00 and 15.30 respectively (GMT-5).

Cyprus’ Achilleos secured Gold at his first World Cup Stage of the year. Preparing for the World Championship and the Commonwealth Games, the 29-year old athlete had skipped Acapulco and Beijing.

The 2007 World Champion, Cyprus’ Georgios Achielleos, secured the Skeet Men Gold medal at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup Stage in Dorset. The 29-year old athlete finished in first place with a total score of 146 (123+23) hits, coming back atop of an ISSF podium one year after his victory at the 2009 World Cup in San Marino.

Making into the final with a qualification score of 123 hits, Achielleos moved into the lead after the fourth station. Missing just two targets, the Cypriot champion cleared the final with a score of 23 hits out of 25 targets, climbing atop of the podium with a total score of 146 hits to secure the fourth ISSF World Cup Gold medal of his career.

“Today’s targets have been difficult for everybody. All the shooters complained about them: targets seem to be harder than usual.” Said Achielleos after the match.

“I was really focused anyway, I tried not to think about it… I had been working hard for this final and I think I deserved the medal!” Added Achielleos “This is my first World Cup Stage of the year. We skipped Acapulco and Beijing, as we will take part in the Commonwealth Games, in October, and therefore we started a little bit later: the season is long, this year.”

Following him, Greece’s Efthimios Mitas, 24, claimed Silver with 145 hits, outdoing by 4 to 3 targets Russia’s Valery Shomin in a shoot-off for the second step of the podium. Mitas had never won an ISSF medal before, and his best placement in an ISSF World Cup had been a sixth place at last year’s World Cup in Cairo (EGY).

Valery Shomin, who had squeezed into the final match throughout a shoot-off with a qualification score of 122+8 hits, scored 23 targets during the final match. Loosing the second shoot-off of his match against Mitas, the 38-year old Russian athlete landed in third place, securing Bronze with a total score of 145+3 hits.

Today’s final did not turn into a lucky match for the 2008 Olympic Champion, the 21-year old American shooter Vincent Hancock. Making it into the final tied to Achilleos with a qualification score of 123 hits, the young champion dropped four targets throughout the final, finishing in fourth with 144+5 hits, after outdoing China’s Wang Ying in a shoot-off.

After winning the first two World Cup Stages of the year in Acapulco and Beijing, he current number one in the world in this event, Norway’s Tore Brovold, finished in eighteenth place, with a score of 119 hits. “I had not enough time to recharge the batteries – Said Brovold – I passed a week in Beijing, after the last World Cup, due to the volcanic cloud. I could not rest and train between the two Cups.” Explained the Norwegian athlete, who will compete in the next ISSF World Cup Stage, in Lonato (ITA) in June.

The third leg of this year’s ISSF Shotgun World Cup Series takes place in Dorset (UK). There, more than 350 athletes coming from all over the world will competed in the Olympic Shotgun events of Trap, Double Trap and Skeet.

About 360 athletes coming from 46 nations met in in Dorset (UK), to compete in the third leg of the 2010 ISSF Shotgun World Cup Series taking place from May 11^th through May 20^th. The first two ISSF Shotgun World Cup Stages of the season took place in Acapulco (MEX) and Beijing (CHN) in March and April, respectively.

Trap, Skeet and Double Trap competitions are taking place at the Southern Counties Shooting Ground, founded in 1959, which is now one of the largest shooting venues of the country. It is the first time that UK has held an ISSF Shotgun World Cup.

“It has been three years in the planning and after a lot of hard work it’s just fantastic to finally welcome the world’s best shooters to Dorset – said the Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Mr. Peter Underhill – When you consider the number of shooters, and countries, it’s a real coup and massive honour to stage this event, which mirrors the Olympic shooting program. We are not going to miss the opportunity to make it memorable!”