ISSF World Cup Milan

Sparks

From ISSFNEWS.com, and catching up on the last few days of competition (including an Equalled World Record of 400/400 in Women's Air Rifle and a new Finals World Record):

10M Air Rifle Men Final – China’s Zhu and Cao shot Gold and Silver


The Olympic Champion of Athens 2004 Zhu Qinan confirmed once more to be the World’s top shooter in the 10M Air Rifle Event by winning the first final at the 2008 ISSF World Cup in Milan. His 20-year old team-mate Cao joined him on the podium winning the battle for Silver, while Peter Sidi of Hugary grabbed Bronze.

The 10M Air Rifle Men Final opened the 2008 ISSF World Cup in Milan, Italy. The current Olympic Champion, the 23-year old Chinese shooter Zhu Qinan, won the competition placing in first with a total score of 701.1 points. Zhu entered the match in first with 599 points, with two points of advantage on his followers, and kept the leadership right to the last shot to win his seventh World Cup Gold medal. The Chinese Champion had won also the pre-Olympic test of Beijing, going back atop the World Ranking in this event, and revealing his expectations for the upcoming Games. Won’t be easy to beat this Zhu in Beijing: the young athlete showed to be ready to run for his second Olympic medal.
The expert Ukrainian shooter Artur Aivazian, 35, tried to make up his disadvantage from Zhu, climbing up the scoreboard shot after shot. Being just a few tenths behind the Chinese leader after the ninth competition shot, Aivaz fell in a fatal mistake on the very last shot scoring a 9.1 that throw him out of the podium placements, in fourth place.
The 20-year old Junior Bronze medallist of the last World Championships of Zagreb, Cao Yifei of China, joined his team-mate Zhu on the podium by climbing all the way up from the seventh to the second place. Cao, who had never took part in a World Cup final round, finished today’s competition with 700.9 points and a Silver medal. Bronze went to the current number three in the World Rank, the Hungarian shooter Peter Sidi, 29, who finished in third only six tenths behind Cao with a total score of 700.3 points.

Matthew Emmons of the USA closed the match in fifth after starting with a qualification score of 597 points and a two-point gap from the leader Zhu, followed by the first time participant Florian Kammerlander of Austria. The experienced Vitali Bubnovich of Belarus, 33, finished in seventh place, while the 26-year old Josselin Henry of France who had won the 50M Rifle Three Position Event in Beijing closed in eight place, today.

10M Air Rifle Women Final – Pfeilschifter set a new golden Final World Record


Sonja Pfeilschifter of Germany set a new Final World Record in the 10M Air Rifle Women Event with a total score of 505.0 points, shuttering the previous record of 504.9 points held by Du Li of China since five years. The German champion won her second World Cup Gold medal in one week, after shooting Gold at the World Cup Munich last Saturday.
Sonja Pfeilschifter of Germany shot her master final at the ISSF World Cup in Milan today, winning Gold with an outstanding new Final World Record of 505.0 points that shuttered the previous record of 504.9 set five years ago by Du Li of China.

Pfeilschifter entered the final round equalling the World Record of 400 points, and then shot an extreme final with an average of 10.5 points per shot rising the known limits of the 10M Air Rifle Women Event. The German competitor seems to be unbeatable: she had won both the Air and Small Bore Rifle Finals at the World Cup in Munich last week, and she shot far better than anybody else here in Milan. The previous record of 504.9 points had been set by Du Li at the 2003 World Cup of Zagreb, and it had been equalled at the last World Cup in Beijing by Katerina Emmons for the first time.

The same Du Li and Katerina Emmons competed in today’s final round, the last ISSF competition before the upcoming Games. The current Olympic Champion, the Chinese shooter Du Li scored more then once in the ninth during the final, eventually placing in fourth place, while her opponent Katerina Emmons shot an excellent final of 105.0 points placing in second and winning Silver. Du and Emmons are duelling in the 10M Air Rifle Event since the last Games of Athens 2004, when the Chinese athlete had shot the Gold medal and the Czech shooter the Bronze. They were enlisted between the most favourites to take a medal in Beijing, but they have to watch out a new pretender now, Sonja Pfeilschifter. The German athlete, with three World Championships titles, three World Cup Final Gold medals, and 10 World Cup medals, is now looking for the only award that still missing form her display: an Olympic title.

Today’s Bronze went to Wu Liuxi of China, third with 501.8 points. The 23-year old athlete was missing from an ISSF podium since the 2005 World Cup Final of Munich, when she had been awarded Bronze. The third Chinese team-member, the 1998 World Champion Zhao Yinghui, placed in sixth place, followed by the 24-year old German athlete Beate Gauss and by the first time participant Kamila Krawczyk of Poland.

10M Air Pistol Women Final – Guo Wenjun was simply unreachable


Guo Wenjun enlarged her collection of World Cup medals winning today’s 10M Air Pistol Women competition. The 23-year old Chinese athlete ruled the match and closed with more then seven points of margin on the followers.

The 23-year old Guo Wenjun keeps winning in the 10M Air Pistol Women Event. The young Chinese athletes, who had shot Gold at the World Cup in Munich last week, repeated herself closing in first today’s final at the ISSF World Cup in Milan. Guo shot an excellent match as she had done in Munich, starting the round with the same qualification score of 389 points and doing even better during the final thanks to a score of 102.4 points (she had scored 102.1 last week). And as had happened last week, nobody could get even close to Guo, who finished this Final in Milan with more then seven points of advantage on the followers. “She was simply unreachable”, effectively reassumed the German pistol coach Thomas Zerbach while following the final for the ISSF TV microphones.

Silver went to the 22-year old, first time finalist, Antoaneta Boneva of Bulgaria, who shot her first medal as senior shooter climbing up all the way from the seventh to the second place. The Bulgarian shooter overcame the expectations, today: she was ranked 44th in the World Rank, and had never been competing in an ISSF World Cup final match before. Moreover, she scored two points more then her experienced team-mate, the three times Olympic medallist Maria Grozdeva who placed in sixth today.

Boneva also outdid the 44-year old Lalita Yauhleuskaya of Australia, who had started the match in second with an advantage of two points on her after the qualification round. Yauhleuskaya finished in third indeed, after shooting a disappointing 8.9 and a 9.0 that pushed her down in the scoreboard.

The first time finalist Chen Chia Tien of Taipei, 24, closed the competition in fourth place, preceding the current European Champion, the Bulgarian Viktoria Chaika of Belarus, fifth today. Renata Sike of Hungary, 29, and Tanyaporn Prucksakorn, 18, placed in seventh and eighth place.

10M Air Pistol Men Final – Last shot decided the final


The duel between Vladimir Isakov, Russia, and Dilshod Mukhtarov, Uzbekistan, took the audience breath at today’s 10M Air Pistol Men Final. The two athletes battle right to the end, and it was the last shot to decide the winner of the event.

The Russian master Vladimir Isakov won today’s 10M Air Pistol Final outdoing his opponent Dilshod Mukhtarov at the very last shot. Isakov had started the final round one point behind Mukhtarov, but he soon came closer to the Uzbek shooter starting a duel that lasted right to the last shot. The two athletes, tied after the ninth competition shot, decided their placement on the very last shot. Mukhtarov scored a 9.6 that could not stand the 10.1 shot by Isakov, who finished on the highest step of the podium. Isakov, 38, Olympic Bronze medallist of Athens 2004, won his 10th World Cup medal today, with a final score of 686.2 points. Mukhtarov, who had won his last World Cup medal in Atlanta nine years ago, finished in second winning Silver with 685.7 points.

Bronze went to the second Russian finalist, the 49-year old veteran Boris Kokorev, who placed in third after struggling against the young Ukrainian shooter Ivan Rybovalov, 26. The two athletes finished the round with an equal total score of 684.9 points, and had to shoot-off for the medal. Kokorev, with his 35 years experience in shooting competition, shot a 10.4, while the unlucky Rybovalov marked a shot of 10.3 points placing in fourth. Kokorev, who had achieved several remarks in the 10M Air Pistol in the past, has been focusing on the Free Pistol during the last years. He had won his last medal in this event at the 2005 ISSF World Cup held here in Milan.

The home athlete, the Italian Vigilio Fait, 45, lost the podium at the last shot, closing the competition with an 8.6 that pulled him out of the medal standings. The Italian shooter, who was third after the ninth shot, eventually landed in fifth place. He was followed by the 24-year old Serbian shooter Damir Mikec, who placed in sixth place, and by the 1988 Olympic Champion Tanyu Kiriakov of Bulgaria, seventh.

50M Rifle Three Positions Final Men – Aivazian of Ukraine left all behind


Artur Aivazian of Ukraine won Gold in the 50M Rifle Three Positions Men Event, leading the competition from the qualifications to the last final shot. The long experienced Aivazian left his opponents almost seventh points behind him, winning his fourth medal on the lines of Milan.

Artur Aivazian of Ukraine won today’s 50M Rifle Three Positions Final, ending on the podium with a total score of 1275.5 points and almost seven points of advantage on the followers. The Ukrainian athlete entered the final round on the lead after the qualification, and shot a final score of 100.5 points leaving not many chances to his opponents. Aivazian, 35, had already won several medals on the lines of the Milan shooting range: here he reached a Gold medal at the 2000 edition of the ISSF World Cup, followed by two Silvers in 2005 and 2006. Today’s Silver went to the 37-year old Maik Eckhardt of Germany, who placed in second with 1268.9 points. This is the second Silver medal won by Eckhardt during this year’s ISSF World Cup Series, who had placed in second at the first World Cup in Rio de Janeiro last March. Bronze went to the current Olympic Champion, the 34-years old Jia Zhanbo of China, who placed in third after fighting against Eckhardt and Emmons. The consistent Chinese athlete had been on the podium also last week, when he had ruled the World Cup held in Munich winning his first Gold medal after the 2004 Olympic Games.

Matthew Emmons of the USA turned out to be the unlucky finalist, today. He had climbed all the way up from the sixth place he had on the start list to the second, but he fell on his last shot scoring a disappointing 9.3. The American Olympians eventually landed in fourth place, only seven tenth of a point behind Jia Zhambo.

The current number one in the World Rank, the 41-year old Thomas Farnik of Austria, ended up in sixth place, after starting the round with the lowest qualification score of 1167 points. He was followed by the Ukrainian shooter Jury Sukhorukov, seventh today, and by the first time finalist Toshikazu Yama****a, who placed in eight place.

50M Rifle Three Positions Women Final – Pfeilschifter: Two World Cups, 4 Golds.


Sonja Pfeilschifter seems to be unbeatable. She had won everything at the previous World Cup in Munich, and she repeated herself here in Milan by shooting Gold both at the 10 and the 50M Rifle Women events.

Sonja Pfeilschifter keeps winning, and keeps impressing with her results. The German athlete, coming from a double victory at the World Cup in Munich last week, centred the aim to reach two more Golds here at the ISSF World Cup in Milan. She won the 10M Air Rifle Event just two days ago, setting a new World Record, and she repeated herself at today’s 50M Rifle Three Positions competition. Staring in third place, two points behind the qualification leader Kristina Vestveit of Norway, Pfeilschifter shot an excellent final of 100.6 points in Milano’s slight wind, and closed the match on the highest step of the podium with a total score of 687.6 points.

Silver went to USA’s Jamie Beyerle, the 24-year old current Pan American Champion who had started the round in second place with 587 qualification points. After sliding down in the rank, she managed to remount and to reach the medal by finishing the final with three excellent shots in the tens and a total score of 685.7 points.

The 21-year old Norwegian shooter Kristina Vestveit entered her first World Cup’s final round today. She had won the Junior Silver medal at the World Championships of Zagreb two years ago, but she had never competed in a final round between seniors before. In spite of her lack of experience and her young age, she challenged the experts and struggle right to the end to remain on the podium. Closing her final with a 10.3 shot she won Bronze with a total of 685.3 points, pushing the Chinese shooter Wu Liuxi back in fourth place.

The two Chinese team-mates Wu Liuxi and Du Li shot the two highest final score. The winner of the pre-Olympic test Du shot an excellent score of 101.7 points during the ten-shot final, moving from the eighth place to the sixth where she landed with a total of 682.7 points. Wu Liuxi, scoring a final of 101.1 points, placed in fourth preceding the Kazak finalist Olga Dovgun, fifth today.

Sparks

Bloody incredible year for Pfeilschifter, in the space of two weeks she's won four gold medals, equalled the AR40 world record qualifying score and set a new AR40 world record finals score.
Unreal.

Sparks

From ISSFNews.com:

50M Rifle Prone Final – Gold to Torben Grimmel of Denmark


Denmark’s Torben Grimmel won today’s 50M Rifle Prone Event, shooting the highest final score of 701.3 points. The first time finalist Toshikazu Yama****a of Japan followed him in second, while Bronze went to the Olympic Champion of Athens Matthew Emmons.

The Olympic Silver medallist of Sydney 2000 Torben Grimmel of Denmark closed today’s 50M Rifle Prone Competition ahead of all, with a final score of 701.3 points. The 32-year old Danish athlete, who had won a World Cup Final held here in Milan in 2003, gained his second medal in this year’s World Cup Series, after the Silver he reached in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the season.
No one of his opponents could catch him up today: Grimmel had started with a qualification score of 597 points, and a margin of one point on the followers, enough to place him in safe atop of the rank from the first to the last shot.

Silver went to the first time finalist Toshikazu Yama****a, 31, from Japan, who finished in second with 699.3 points. Yama****a, competing since 1992, had never entered a final round before this ISSF World Cup Stage of Milan, where he shot also in the 50M Rifle Three Positions Event.
The Olympic Champion of Athens 2004 Matthew Emmons of USA won Bronze after a close struggle against his team-mate Michael Anti. Emmons closed the final with two excellent shots of 10.8 and 10.4 points, leaving Anti behind him and stepping on the podium with a total of 698.8 points “I quite satisfied of my performances here in Milan – said Emmons right before lining up for the final match – I made into the three Rifle finals, I am there, that’s a good indicator in this moment”.

Michael Anti, 43, landed in fifth place behind the number seven in the World, Jury Sukhorukov of Ukrain. Anti, expert of the 50M Rifle Three Positions Event, usually does not compete in the Prone event during ISSF World Cup matches. He probably makes an exception for the Milan shooting range, where he has taken part in four Prone competitions since the year 2000, entering two finals.

Haral Stenvaag of Norway, 55, entered the final round in third today, finishing his competition in eighth. Stenvaag is a veteran of Rifle shooting: the Norwegian shooter shot in every Olympic editions since the Games of Los Angeles 1984, and has almost a 40-year long experience of international competition.

rrpc

I love the way the on-board censor has starred out a chunk of Yamash1ta's name

Neil Stirton didn't go so well this time. He had a 586. I notice Miroslav Varga is making a bit of a comeback as well with a 593. It seems he's decided he'd like another gold medal for his website .

Scores are generally lower than Munich. Either conditions were poor or people were tired.

Sparks

Neil apparently had problems with the tables in Milan
Still, even though he went from 6th to 9th in the world rankings, 9th is nothing to sneeze at

rrpc

I just spotted that Ralf Schumann who set a new Final World Record of 790.0 in the Munich World Cup, was beaten into second place in Milan by Christian Reitz who in the process equalled the World Record of Alexei Klimov and set another new Final World Record of 794.0.

That's in rapid fire pistol btw.

Going to be an interesting Olympics

Sparks

Did you see the size of the barrel weight Schumann's using?

rrpc

Sparks wrote: »

Did you see the size of the barrel weight Schumann's using?

Yes. They call it the 'brick'

I suppose it's his way of compensating for the new rules, the damn thing must weigh a ton and he can hold it on target without a wobble. Though he wobbled out to the seven ring in the final.

Sparks

He must be doing a shedload of core strength exercises these days

rrpc

Just think of the inertia involved in moving that thing from target to target. I notice that Reitz is also using a Pardini, though in a much more familiar configuration.

I can't get ISSF TV at the moment, it seems to be very slow and the player they have is a pain in that you can't jump it on a bit. There's far too much intro and not enough meat for my liking.

I haven't seen anyone using the new Walther SSP yet. It's still Pardinis and Morinis and the odd unidentifiable Russian machine.

Sparks

Well, (a) it's very new and shooters can be... conservative about such things ; and (b) it's supposed to be a pain to strip for cleaning. That said, I tried dry-firing one (not the same, but better than naught), and it certainly looks like a nice piece of hardware. Good low boreline, nice trigger shoe design, crisp trigger. Funky grip material and it doesn't look like you could take a dremel to it, but still.

rrpc

Sparks wrote: »

Well, (a) it's very new and shooters can be... conservative about such things ; and (b) it's supposed to be a pain to strip for cleaning. That said, I tried dry-firing one (not the same, but better than naught), and it certainly looks like a nice piece of hardware. Good low boreline, nice trigger shoe design, crisp trigger. Funky grip material and it doesn't look like you could take a dremel to it, but still.

I've live fired it and it's quite amazing how the recoil comes straight back. The grip is actually wood with a special paint applied, you even get a little pot of the paint when you buy one in case you do feel the need for dremel work.

The triggers are very Walther: gritty when new but smoothen out nicely after a few hundred rounds.

Stripping is difficult enough, but I believe it gets easier with practice. The only thing I didn't like was the action was a bit sticky when releasing from locked back position. It seems a bit fussy.

Sparks

The grip is actually wood with a special paint applied

Excellent - you'd swear it wasn't when holding it.

I wasn't thinking of the trigger itself though, I meant the shoe. They've curved it in two axes so that it naturally fits the finger as it drops down, I was rather happy with that.

Fussiness is something else I'd heard about it, but you tend to not listen so much to that unless *everyone* says it because what's fussy to one person is ordinary to someone else and even forgiving to others.

rrpc

Sparks wrote: »

Fussiness is something else I'd heard about it, but you tend to not listen so much to that unless *everyone* says it because what's fussy to one person is ordinary to someone else and even forgiving to others.

I think it's deserved in the case of the SSP. Having said that, I reckon I could live with it provided it wasn't likely to lose me points in a competition.

I think on balance that it was over-engineered. The simplicity of the Italian manufacturers could have been brought to bear, but I think with Germans there's always the temptation to add just another little tweak to get it right rather than re-design.

Sparks

Still, you have to admit that that worked for the GSP and the KSP (okay, that was a baikal in disguise, but still).

rrpc

Sparks wrote: »

Still, you have to admit that that worked for the GSP and the KSP (okay, that was a baikal in disguise, but still).

The GSP was and still is a simple design. Pretty much flawless and indestructible. In addition it was modular with interchangeable calibres and with the OSP conversion kit could be used for Rapid Fire as well.

Some bits of it were messy, such as having to remove the grip to adjust trigger weight and the fact that the adjustable rear sight was by means of interchangeable leaves.

Sparks

rrpc wrote: »

The GSP was and still is a simple design. Pretty much flawless and indestructible. In addition it was modular with interchangeable calibres and with the OSP conversion kit could be used for Rapid Fire as well.

See? Good engineering...

Some bits of it were messy, such as having to remove the grip to adjust trigger weight and the fact that the adjustable rear sight was by means of interchangeable leaves.

...though not perfect
Still though, being able to shoot .22 and .32 with the same pistol is a good thing.