Bulgaria’s legendary shooter Maria Grozdeva rules the 25m Pistol Women final in Fort Benning

Final 25m Pistol Women

ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol · Fort Benning, USA

The experienced 45-year-old shooter started for the 94th time in this event in an ISSF World Cup, claiming her 14th gold medal 25 years after the first one, dating back to Milan (ITA) in 1995.

The third competition day at the ISSF World Cup Stage 3 in Fort Benning (USA) saw Bulgaria’s 45-year-old shooter Maria Grozdeva win the 14th World Cup gold medal of her fantastic career. An impressive achievement for the veteran shooter and President of the Bulgarian Shooting Union.

Along her match, Grozdeva scored 4 hits in seven of the ten final series, battling with Serbia’s Zorana Arunovic all along the match and finally building a consistent gap in the second-to-last round, when the Serbian 31-year-old only scored 1 hit and the Bulgarian legendary shooter nailed another 4-hit series.

With three hits between the two shooters and only one series to fire, Grozdeva’s 3 hits were enough to secure the brightest medal and sign off with 35 total hits, while Arunovic closed with 32 and the silver around her neck.

The bronze was awarded to the reigning Olympic Champion — Greece’s Anna Korakaki, who lost a thrilling shoot-off against Arunovic and finished in 3rd place with 29 hits.

The Greek 22-year-old was followed by Germany’s Doreen Vennekamp (23), who missed the podium by two hits and placed 4th with 23, while her teammate Sandra Reitz signed the best World Cup placement of her career in the 25m Pistol Women event. The 33-year-old athlete, indeed, took 6th position with 15 hits, besting the 9th place she obtained in Baku (AZE) two years ago.

Between the two German shooters, three-time World Cup medalist Naphaswan Yangpaiboon (29) of Thailand took 5th place with 19 hits.

Eliminated after four rounds, Switzerland’s 49-year-old Heidi Diethelm Gerber — bronze medalist in this event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games — took 8th place with 6 hits, compromizing her final with two consecutive 1-hit series in her first and second one.

One round later, it was People’s Republic of China’s Zhang Mengxue who left the match: the Chinese 27-year-old — Olympic Champion in the Air Pistol event at Rio 2016 — nailed the second World Cup start of her career in this event, finishing 7th with 11 hits.

Live results, news and updates will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.

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RESULTS - 25m Pistol Women

1. GROZDEVA Maria

2. ARUNOVIC Zorana

3. KORAKAKI Anna

10.05.2018

VIDEO - Final 25m Pistol Women

10.05.2018

Marco Vettoretti

Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl

Chinese 21-year-old Wu claims last-shot victory against his teammate Wang

Final 10m Air Pistol Men

ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol · Fort Benning, USA

Competing in his second ISSF World Cup, the young and talented shooter grabbed the top position with a crucial 10.6 in his final shot, overtaking his teammate Wang Meng Yi and rocketing the People’s Republic of China atop the provisional medal standings in Fort Benning (USA).

The second competition day at the ISSF World Cup Stage 3 in Fort Benning (USA) saw the People’s Republic of China take five of the six medals up for grabs, as Wu Jiayu and Wang Meng Yi signed a gold-silver combination in the men’s 10m Air Pistol event.

Competing in the second ISSF World Cup of his young career, 21-year-old Wu crushed the 12th place he obtained at last month’s World Cup in Changwon (KOR), climbing up the table after standing in 5th place after the two 5-shot series.

Wu, indeed, opened the elimination stage by firing five consecutive shots inside the 10th ring — including a perfect 10.9 on his 15th one — and approaching the final 2-shot series 0.5 points behind his teammate Wang.

There, Wu nailed a disappointing 9.4 with his 23rd shot, to which Wang answered with an almost-equal 9.7. In the final and decisive shot, however, Wu Jiayu shot a fantastic 10.6, definitely overtaking his Chinese rival and pocketing the gold medal with 241.2 points. Wang, who sealed his match with a 9.6, took silver with 241.0.

The podium was then completed by Spain’s Pablo Carrera (31) — a two-time World Cup gold medalist in this event — who secured his seventh World Cup medal overall, finishing in 3rd position with 220.6 points, only 0.6 behind Wu at the time of the elimination.

Just outside of the medal position, Italy’s 43-year-old Giuseppe Giordano missed the podium by 0.5 points, taking 4th place in his 26th World Cup start in the Air Pistol event and finishing with 197.8 points.

the Italian experienced shooter was followed by the 2017 ISSF Shooter of the Year — Japan’s 42-year-old Tomoyuki Matsuda — who concluded in 5th position with 177.5 points, and by Vietnam’s 43-year-old Tran Quoc Cuong, 6th with 158.3.

The bottom two positions were taken by Ukraine’s Denys Kushnirov and Great Britain’s Kristian Michael Smeeton Callaghan (24): after signing the highest score in the qualification round, 25-year-old Kushnirov took 7th place with 137.3 points, while Callaghan placed 8th in his first final participation, scoring 110.8 points and compromizing his match with a bad 7.3 on his 11th shot.

Medal standings after 2 out of 10 events

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	CHN	2	2	1	5
2	ESP			1	1
		2	2	2	6

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RESULTS - 10m Air Pistol Men

1. WU Jiayu

2. WANG Meng Yi

3. CARRERA Pablo

09.05.2018

Marco Vettoretti

Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl

Source - ISSF Website

The People’s Republic of China sweeps the Air Rifle podium in Fort Benning

Final 10m Air Rifle Women

ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol · Fort Benning, USA

After placing 4th in her two previous World Cup participation, 21-year-old Wu Mingyang climbed atop the World Cup podium in Fort Benning, taking gold ahead of two of her teammates, Zhu Yingjie and Zhao Ruozhu, who respectively won silver and bronze.

The ISSF World Cup Stage 3 in Fort Benning (USA) opened with the women’s 10m Air Rifle event, where the Chinese National Team swept the medal positions, taking gold Wu Mingyang.

The 21-year-old climbed atop the podium alongside her two teammates Zhu Yingjie and Zhao Ruozhu, as the trio owned the top three positions all along the match: after the first 5-shot series, indeed, Denmark’s Stine Nielsen was 0.7 points away from the 3rd place, a gap that reduced to 0.5 after five more shots.

There, the three Chinese shooters nailed an unbelievable series of 10s, distancing themselves from their rivals and igniting a three-way battle for the medals up for grabs: firing 23 of her 24 shots inside the 10th ring, Wu claimed the brightest medal with 252.2 points, while 18-year-old Zhu Yingjie — the 2017 Junior World Champion in this event, who previously signed a new Qualification World Record with 633.4 points — took silver with 251.8.

The bronze was awarded to 19-year-old Zhao Ruozhu — holder of this event’s World Record — who finished in 3rd position with 230.2 points.

Eventually, Nielsen followed Zhao and placed 4th with 206.9 points, while United States’ Virginia Thrasher — the 2016 Olympic Champion — took 5th place in front of her home crowd and scored 186.3 points.

The bottom position was finally taken by Serbia’s 31-year-old Andrea Arsovic — World Cup Final winner in both 2016 and 2017 — who placed 8th with 122.2 points and left the contest at the 12th-shot mark. Two shots later she was followed by Gabriela Vognarova (25) of the Czech Republic, who took 7th place with 143.3 points.

Both Arsovic and Vognarova were overtaken by 27-year-old Japanese shooter Shimizu Ayano, who then fired a couple of 9.9s in her 15th and 16th shot, concluding her match in 6th place and signing off with 163.5 points.

The ISSF World Cup Stage 3 in Fort Benning will continue tomorrow with two more finals: the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men, scheduled at 12:45 pm (UTC-4:00), and the 25m Pistol Women, scheduled at 3:00 pm.

The match will be streamed live on the ISSF website, on the Federation’s Livestream channel and on its official Facebook page.

Live results, news and updates will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.

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RESULTS - 10m Air Rifle Women

1. WU Mingyang

2. ZHU Yingjie

3. ZHAO Ruozhu

09.05.2018

Marco Vettoretti

posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl

Spource: ISSF Website

The ISSF World Cup Stage 3 is kicking off in Fort Benning on May 7th

ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol · Fort Benning, USA

Following the competitions that took place in Guadalajara (MEX) and Changwon (USA), the third stage of this year’s ISSF World Cup is scheduled in Fort Benning (USA), where more than 350 shooters from 53 different nations will compete in the 10 Rifle/Pistol events and in four additional matches that will deliver eight Olympic quota places for Buenos Aires 2018.

The third stage of the 2018 ISSF World Cup Series will kick off on Monday, May 7th in Fort Benning (USA), then concluding on the 15th of the same month. A total of 352 shooters will participate in the competition, bearing the flags of 53 National Olympic Committees and piling up a total of 621 starts.

Along with the 10 Olympic Shooting events of the Rifle/Pistol disciplines, four additional matches will be contested — 10m Air Rifle Men Youth, 10m Air Rifle Women Youth, 10m Air Pistol Men Youth and 10m Air Pistol Women Youth — in order to deliver a total of eight quota places for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

It will be the tenth World Cup stage to be hosted by the United States Army base in the last 25 years: the previous ones took place in 1994, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Here’s the calendar of the final matches scheduled:

Wednesday, May 9th

10m Air Rifle Women at 1:15 pm (UTC-4:00)

10m Air Pistol Men at 3:15 pm

Thursday, May 10th

50m Rifle 3 Positions Men at 12:45 pm

25m Pistol Women at 3:00 pm

Friday, May 11th

10m Air Rifle Men at 1:15 pm

Saturday, May 12th

10m Air Pistol Women at 11:15 am

50m Rifle 3 Positions Women at 1:00 pm

25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men at 3:15 pm

Sunday, May 13th

10m Air Pistol Mixed Team at 

10m Air Rifle Mixed Team at

Monday, May 14th

10m Air Rifle Men Youth at 11:15 am

10m Air Rifle Women Youth at 12:45 pm

10m Air Pistol Men Youth at 2:45 pm

10m Air Pistol Women Youth at 4:15 pm

The 2018 ISSF World Cup Series will continue in Munich (GER), where the fourth stage is expected to take place from the 22nd to the 29th of May, while the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games are scheduled in the Argentinian capital city from the 6th to the 18th of October.

All ISSF competitions will be streamed live on the ISSF website, on the Federation’s Livestream channel and on its official Facebook page.

Live results, news and updates will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.

Marco Vettoretti

Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl

Source - ISSF Website

Rhode and Matsuda awarded 2017 ISSF Shooters of the Year trophy

USA’s Skeet Champion won the trophy after an exceptional 2017 ISSF season.

Right after winning today’s Skeet Women gold medal, USA’s Kimberly Rhode was awarded the 2017 ISSF Shooter of the Year trophy by Mr. Demetris Lordos, the Chairman of the ISSF Shotgun Committee and member of the ISSF Administrative Council. . 

Her victory had already been announced last January, and the ceremony took place today, in occasion of the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Republic of Korea. 

The ISSF Shooter of the Year trophies are awarded every year to the two athletes - a male and a female shooters - who best represented the values of the shooting sport in the past season, through their unique performances, behavior and character. The winners are selected by a panel including members of the ISSF Athletes Committee, of the ISSF Coaches Advisory Committee and by delegates of the international press. Japan’s Pistol shooter Tomoyuki Matsuda was awarded the men’s trophy, four days ago. 

Rhode won the trophy with 96 points, after a great 2017 season. Last year, the American shooter won gold at the ISSF World Cups in New Delhi and Acapulco, and secured a Silver medal in Larnaka. At the 2017 ISSF World Cup Final, she claimed her second consecutive ISSF title, equalling the world record of 56 hits. It’s the first time that she wins this recognition. 

“I feel very humbled by it all. It’s the first time I win it, and it’s a great honor!” Rhode said. 

2017 ISSF Shooter of the Year - women’s ranking: 

1. Kimberly Rhode (USA)
2. Yuemei Lin (CHN)
3. Jessica Rossi (ITA)
4. Shi Mengyao (CHN)
5. Jolyn Beer (GER)
6. Zhang Jingjing (CHN)
7. Dania Jo Vizzi (USA)
8. Ray Bassil (LBN)
9. Andrea Arsovic (SRB)
10. Katharina Monika Jacob (USA), Penny Smith (AUS)

Japan’s Matsuda awarded the 2017 Shooter of the Year trophy

It’s the second time that the Japanese pistol ace shooter wins the trophy.

The ISSF Vice-President Gary Anderson awarded the 2017 ISSF Shooter of the Year trophy to Japan’s pistol champion Tomoyuki Matsuda, today. 

The award had already been announced on the 26th of January 2018, but the trophy ceremony was set to be held during the 2018 ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Republic of Korea, today. 

Last year, 42-year old Tomoyuki Matsuda climbed atop of the podium at the ISSF World Cup stage in New Delhi, and collected two world cup silver medals in Munich, Germany, and Gabala, Azerbaijan. 

At the end of the season, again in New Delhi, Matsuda claimed his first ISSF World Cup Final title, setting a new World Record of 241.8 points. 

It’s the second time that the Japanese shooter wins the trophy, which he had already claimed in 2010. 

The “Shooter of the Year” recognition is awarded every year to the two athletes - a man and a female shooters - who best represented the values of the shooting sport in the past season, through unique performances, behavior and character. 

The winners are selected by a panel including members of the ISSF Athletes Committee, of the ISSF Coaches Advisory Committee and by delegates of the international press. 

USA’s skeet shooter Kimberly Rhode won the 2017 female Shooter of the Year trophy, that will be awarded to her here in Changwon later this week. 

The 2017 ISSF Shooter of the Year - male shooters ranking: 

1. Matsuda Tomoyuki (JPN)
2. Istvan Peni (HUN)
3. Pavlo Korostylov (UKR)
4. Antonio Bailon (ESP)
5. Gabriele Rossetti (ITA)
6. Jitu Rai (IND)
7. Alberto Fernandez (ESP)
8. Sergey Kamenskiy (RUS)
9. Oleh Omelchuk (UKR)
10. Torben Grimmel (DEN)

Marco Dalla Dea

Posted by Thom Erik Syrdahl

Source ISSF Website