India's Bindra wins gold in the Men's 10m Air Rifle

India's Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

(BEIJING, August 11) -- India's Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the Men's 10m Air Rifle in Beijing on August 11 with an incredible performance in the final. Bindra shot a total score of 700.5.

China's Zhu Qinan, gold medalist at Athens 2004, won the silver medal with a total score of 699.7.

The bronze medal was won by Finland's Henri Hakkinen, who was leading the field after the qualification round, but was unable to hold off Bindra and Zhu in the final. The Finnish shooter shot a total of 699.4.

Hakkinen shot 598 in the qualification round, giving him a one point lead over Zhu. Bindra was one point further back with 596.

Bindra signals his intentions early in the final, with a 10.7 on his first shot. None of Bindra's shots in the final dropped below 10.0.

Hakkinen's performance in the final was solid, but it needed to be better. He averaged 10.14 per shot in the final, compared to Bindra's 10.45.

Going into the last shot, Bindra and Hakkinen were tied for first place, but Bindra secured the gold medal with his best shot of the final, an outstanding 10.8.

Conversely, Hakkinen's last shot was his worst, a lowly 9.7. This allowed Zhu to overcome Hakkinen and win the silver medal. Zhu shot 10.5 on his last shot.

Zhu will be disappointed that did not become the first shooter to win two gold medals in the Men's 10m Air Pistol. However, he was unable to reproduce his best – Zhu holds the Olympic record for the final score in the event, the 702.7 that he shot at Athens 2004.

Shooting Day 4 Preview: A swag of stars to grace the shooting range

(BEIJING, August 11) -- Tomorrow's Olympic Shooting competition will see gold medals handed out to the winners of the Men's 50m Pistol and the Men's Double Trap.

Athens 2004 gold medalist Mikhail Nestruev of Russia will be looking for another gold medal in the Men's 50m Pistol, but will need to once again confront the Athens 2004 silver and bronze medalists, Jin Jong-oh of the Republic of Korea and Kim Jong-su of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The field actually has another couple of shooters who have won Olympic gold medals in the event - Sydney 2000 gold medalist Tanyu Kiriakov of Bulgaria and Barcelona 1992 gold medalist Kanstantsin Lukashyk of Belarus.

Possible challengers to the Olympic medalists include Joao Costa of Portugal, Matsuda Tomoyuki of Japan and Lin Zhongzai of China.

The United Arab Emirates' Ahmed Al Maktoum will look to defend the gold medal that he won in Men's Double Trap at Athens 2004. Al Maktoum won his country's first Olympic medal by setting an Olympic record in the qualification round and equaling Russell Mark of Australia's Olympic record for the final.

Al Maktoum's main competition will come from Great Britain's Richard Faulds. Faulds won a gold medal in the event at Sydney 2000 and is currently World No. 1.

Mark will also be competing tomorrow, representing Australia for the fifth time at the Olympic Games. Mark won the gold medal in the event at Atlanta 1996 and a silver medal at Sydney 2000. The experienced campaigner may cause an upset and defeat Al Maktoum and Faulds.

Lanky Texan wins gold and breaks Olympic records in the Men's Double Trap


Eller celebrates his victory. (Photo credit: Nick Laham/Getty Images)

(BEIJING, August 12) -- US shooter Walton Eller's first Olympic medal is golden.

"It felt awesome. I've been working at this for God knows how long now. The last two times I finished 17th and 12th, so I'm glad I finally made a final," said the 26-year-old Texan.

All his hard work could be witnessed in the qualification rounds, when he hit 145 targets out of a maximum 150, a new Olympic qualification record. Italian Francesco D Aniello finished the qualification rounds in second place, four points less than Eller. The other four shooters who qualified for the final were US shooter Jeffrey Holguin (140), China's Hu Binyuan (138), Sydney 2000 gold medal winner Richard Faulds of Great Britain (137) and Atlanta 1996 gold medal winner Russell Mark of Australia (136).

The final round saw Eller miss five targets, equal to the amount of targets he missed in the three qualification rounds. After Eller missed the first two targets, his opponents had some hope of victory, but the lanky American recovered and hit a total of 45 targets in the final, a good enough score to set a new Olympic record for the final score. Eller's 190 overtook the 189 targets hit by Ahmed Almaktoum of the United Arab Emirates at Athens 2004.

D Aniello and Hu both hit 46 targets in the final, earning the silver and bronze medals respectively with finals scores of 187 and 184.

Holguin (182), Mark (181) and Faulds (180) finished in the last three places. Mark's path to the final was tumultuous as he needed to win a shoot-off against three other shooters. All four shooters had hit 136 targets in the qualification rounds.

Mark needed to hit six targets in the shoot-off, eventually besting Athens 2004 gold medalist Almaktoum.

The final results from the Olympic Trap event are now available

Now that the long wait for the commencement of the xxix Olympiad is almost over, all eyes will move east to Beijing and tomorrows opening ceremony.

One person who will not be participating in this ceremony however will be the ICPSA's own Derek Burnett for whom Friday 8th August 2008 will be the final day of preparation for his quest for Olympic success and he will be found at the Beijing Shooting Range CTF for the official practice session along with the rest of those athletes who will be competing in the Olympic Trap event.

Saturday 9th August will see the first shots fired in the Olympic Trap qualifying rounds at approx. 2am Irish time with each competitor completing 75 targets on day one.

Day two will also start at approx. 2am Irish time and when each competitor has completed a further 50 targets and the make up of the final is known, the final round of 25 targets which will decide the destination of this years medals is scheduled for approx. 8am Irish time.

We would like to wish Derek every success in the days ahead and we are sure that the capable hands of High Performance Programme Director Kevin Kilty and Professor Peter Terry will ensure that Derek is well positioned to "give it his best shot".

RTE has promised comprehensive coverage of the event and the programme schedule should be closely watched in the days ahead for further details and we will post any additional information if or when it becomes available.

Day one results:

At the conclusion of day one, Derek Burnett lies in 15th place three targets off the pace. Gusting winds combined with 90% humiditity and 30+ degrees ensured that scores were not as expected and consequently all is still left to shoot for as the Ireland contingent prepare for the second and final days competition.

While Derek is not positioned on the leader board as he or indeed we would have hoped, based on the results of the ISSF World Cup held at the venue earlier in the year a score of 49 ex 50 on day two might be good enough to see him progress to the final.

However even this result is dependant upon the performance of others on the day and his fait is ultimately outside his own hands.

Shooting on day two will commence at approx. 2am Irish time and again we wish Derek, Kevin and Peter the very best of luck.

A report on Derek's progress was broadcast this morning at approx. 8am and further coverage is planned this evening (09/08/08) on RTE after 7pm.

Day two-Final Results: (Full results are available below as a download attachment)
Despite a valiant effort by Derek Burnett, an opening round of 22 saw all chances of his progressing to the finals disappear. His final round score of 19 summed up what has turned out to be a disappointing Olympics both for Derek personally and those involved with the ICPSA High Performance Programme and his finishing position does not accurately reflect the time, energy and dedicated commitment of the last number of years nor indeed the ability and potential of Derek and those supporting him.

It is however a measure of the progress of the sport and the ICPSA High Performance Programme that there is now a real disappointment at not having achieved a result when a good result was expected.

This disappointment also demonstrates the progress made over the past four years from the Association being satisfied merely at qualifying for the Olympics or indeed any major Championships to now seeking not alone to compete with but to realistically expect to finish ahead of competitors from far bigger countries who have substantially more resources in terms of funding and facilities as well as a deeper rooted history in the sport.

The road to London 2012 has already begun and we must look forward to charting the progress of our shooters and the sport internationally and at home in the years ahead.

Shooting Day 5 Preview: Grozdeva shoots for third Gold

(BEIJING, August 12) -- Bulgaria's Maria Grozdeva will be shooting for her third straight Olympic gold medal in the Women's 25m Pistol at the Beijing Shooting Range on August 13.

Grozdeva will be seeking her sixth Olympic medal, having won gold medals in this event at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, and bronze medals in the 10m Air Pistol at Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Athens 2004.

The mother of three won a gold medal in the 25m Pistol at the 2008 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a score of 787.0.

Other top shooters competing tomorrow include the Athens 2004 silver medalist, Lenka Maruskova of the Czech Republic and China's Chen Ying and Fei Fengji.

Chen won every world title on offer in 2007 and will probably be Grozdeva's top challenger.

Lalita Yauhleuskaya of Australia and Jasna Sekaric of Serbia, the top-ranked players in the world, will also compete in the qualification round.

Shooting Day 6 Preview: Galkina and Igaly seek golden double

(BEIJING, August 13) -- Russia's Lioubov Galkina will tomorrow look for her second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the Women's 50m Rifle Three Positions. In Women's Skeet, Diana Igaly of Hungary will also look to reproduce the gold medal she won at Athens 2004.

Galkina has already made an appearance on the medals podium in Beijing after winning the first silver medal of the Games in the Women's 10m Air Rifle on August 9. The event was won by Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic.

Galkina won the gold medal at Athens 2004 with 688.4 points, beating Italy's Valentina Turisini, who finished with 685.9. Turisini and Tatiana Goldobina of Russia, silver medalists at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, will be looking to move up a spot in Beijing.

Emmons will be seeking her second gold medal of the Beijing Games. Local favorite and World No. 2 Du Li of China will be keen for a medal after she finished a disappointing fifth in the Women's 10m Air Rifle.

World No. 1 Sonja Pfeilschifter of Germany is still searching for an elusive first Olympic medal. She failed to qualify for the final in the 10m Air Rifle - another event in which she was ranked first in the world.

Lidija Mihajlovic of Serbia and Jamie Beyerle of the United States, the third and fourth-ranked shooters in the world, are also in the field.

Diana Igaly of Hungary is the favorite for the Women's Skeet tomorrow. Igaly won gold at Athens 2004 and bronze at Sydney 2000. Another gold medal chance will be Zemfira Meftakhetdinova of Azerbaijan. Meftakhetdinova won a gold medal at Sydney 2000.

Athens 2004 silver medalist in the Women's Skeet, Wei Ning of China and Kimberly Rhode of the United States are also medal contenders.

Shooting Day 7 Preview: Emmons set to follow his wife's example

(BEIJING, August 14) -- The highlight of tomorrow's Shooting action will be the final of the Men's 50m Rifle Prone.

Matthew Emmons of the United States is a strong chance to win his second gold medal in the event, following on from his success at Athens 2004.

For inspiration, Emmons does not need to look any further than his wife Katerina, who has already won two medals at Beijing 2008 -- a gold medal in the Women's 10m Air Rifle and a silver medal in the Women's 50m Rifle Three Positions.

Emmons will be challenged by Australian Warren Potent, who equaled the World record for a final score at the Beijing World Cup in April 2008.

After winning bronze medals at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, Belarusian Sergei Martynov will be looking to up the ante and win gold.

The qualification round of the Men's 50m Rifle Prone will begin tomorrow at 9 a.m. local time (UTC/GMT +8), while the final will begin at 11:30 a.m. The top eight shooters from the qualification round advance to the final.

In addition to the Men's 50m Rifle Prone, the first qualification stages of both the Men's Skeet and the Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol will be held tomorrow.

There will be a total of four past gold medalists in the Men's Skeet: Italian Andrea Benelli (Athens 2004), Ukrainian Mykola Milchev (Sydney 2000), Italian Ennio Falco (Atlanta 1996) and German Axel Wegner (1988).

The only gold medalist from the previous five Games that will not be present will be China's Zhong Shan, the only woman to a win a shooting event that was open to both women and men. Women now have their own Skeet event, which was won by Italy's Chiara Cainero today.

The Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol promises to be a battle between two German shooters. Germany's Ralf Schumann will embark on his campaign to win a fourth Olympic gold medal in the event.

However, his compatriot Christian Reitz broke the world records for both the qualification and final scores at the Milan World Cup in May 2008. The 21-year-old Reitz will need to handle the pressure of shooting at the Olympics and not be outwitted by his experienced opponent, the 46-year-old Schumann.

Beijing Olympics: Cheating accusation from Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra
The Beijing Olympics has been hit by a fresh 'cheating' row after India's gold-medal winning shooter said that his gunsight had been tampered with before the final round of his event.
By Peter Foster in Beijing
Last Updated: 11:18AM BST 14 Aug 2008


Abhinav Bindra of India during his medal winning performance in the Men's 10m Air Rifle shooting Photo: AFP / GETTY

Abhinav Bindra, who became the first Indian to win an individual Olympic Gold earlier this week, said he had discovered the alteration as he practiced before the final of the 10m Air Rifle event which he went on to win.

Competitors are given three minutes of 'sighter' shots to zero in their sights before the competition officially begins and it was at this point that Bindhra, 25, discovered that someone had moved his rear sight.

Dr Amit Bhattacharjee, Abhinav's personal mental trainer said: "When Abhinav fired the first shot in the sighting time (practice time), it hit the target between the fourth and fifth rings.

"It is unthinkable of any shooter competing at this level to score 4.5 points. But he remained calm and corrected the angle (of his sight) and the end result is in front of you."

The Indian team authorities said that no official complaint had been made about the incident, since it is acknowledged to be the responsibility of the shooter to take proper care of his rifle.

Baljit Singh Sethi, India's deputy Chef-the-Mission who is also the secretary general of the National Rifle Association of India, said.

"Actually, you cannot blame anyone for it's your duty to take care of your gun. He was the only Indian to qualify, so there were shooters only from other countries in that room."

Bindra has recalled going to the toilet at the same time his German coach Gabriela Buehlmann went out for a cigarette, leaving the gun unattended. It was at this moment that the Indians suspect the rifle was tampered with.

The allegations of cheating come a day after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was forced to answer allegations in the US media that three of China's gold-medal winning gymnastics team were underage.

According to Olympic regulations gymnasts must turn 16 by the end of an Olympic year, but several reports in the Chinese media appeared to refer three of the Chinese gymnasts as 13 and 14 as recently as a year ago.

Doubts have been cast over the ages of He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan, and Yang Yilin who look considerably younger than their counterparts. Age is considered an advantage in gymnastics because younger girls are more flexible than older ones.

The victorious gymnasts who beat the USA to win team gold, were subjected to hostile questioning at their victory press conference, with journalists demanding to know if those under suspicion could 'remember their 15th birthdays'.

The IOC said that passports and other documentation provided by the Chinese authorities during the registration process 'proved' the athletes were old enough to compete, but suspicions continue to linger.