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ISSF World Cup Final wraps up in Gabala

17 August 2015 [13:55] - TODAY.AZ

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

International Sport Shooting Federation (ISSF) World Cup Final wrapped up in Azerbaijan’s northern region on August 16.

The competition brought together about 1,100 of the world’s best marksmen from 90 countries to compete in the rifle, pistol, and shotgun shooting disciplines

Throughout the competition, 34 athletes from 25 countries advanced to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

China finished atop the overall medal standings of the competition, with six gold, four silver, and two bronze medals, for an unmatchable total of 12 medals. The U.S. finished in second place with five medals – two gold, two silver, and one bronze medal. Russia followed in a close third, with two gold, one silver, and two bronze medals.

The competition was remembered for having broken three world records including the Trap Men's (75 targets by Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas of Guatemala), the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women's (592 points by Sylwia Bogacka of Poland) and the Skeet Women's (75 targets by Aleksandra Jarmolinska also from Poland).

The Chinese team showed great results in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men Finals, collecting two medals on August 14.

Zicheng Hui (26) took first place, taking home gold with 459.8 points.

“This is the result of long trainings. Gabala has been a great competition, I feel really good now.” Hui said. “I am just trying to be myself through the competition, and to do my best. I am also a bit lucky, which helps. I will keep on fighting to stay on top!”

Alexander Schmirl of Austria secured the silver medal with 457.9 points. Another Chinese athlete Qinan Zhu, claimed silver with 446.8 points.

In the 10m Air Pistol Women Finals, held on the same day, Serbia's Zorana Arunovic won a gold medal, and climbed to the lead with 199.0 points.

“I am really happy with today's gold, I gave the real best of myself,” said the Serbian shooter. “During the final, the results haven't been so high. But it looks like that whenever somebody else make a mistake, I didn't, so I managed to climb up.”

“My teammates already have two Rio 2016 quotas in the air pistol event, and I am out of quota place, so I was focusing more on the 25-meter event, hoping to get one there. But I did really really bad. So I tried to make at least a good impression at today's event,” Arunovic said.

Silver medal went to Yuemei Lin of China, who finished in second place with 197.7 points. Her teammate Tien Chia Chen placed third with 177.7 points.

On the same day, Japan's Yukie Nakayama won gold in the Trap Women Finals, securing an Olympic seat for her country.

"I got the quota place," says Nakayama, "so Olympic Games. I’m very happy. It was very important this time to get quota place. I'm very happy."

"Thank you very much to everyone, my family, and my company, my sponsors, all that. I'm very happy. Thank you very much."

Silver medalist Yi Chun Lin also earned a place for her country. Corey Cogdell of the U.S. won the bronze medal.

The last gold of the ISSF World Cup went to a 40-year old shooter from Russia, named Alexey Alipov on August 15, with score of 124 hits.

“It feels great to be back atop of the podium,” Alipov said. “The ISSF rules changed after the last games and it took me a while to get used to it. But finally I made it, I am back.”

Giovanni Cernogoraz of Croatia claimed the silver medal and won an Olympic seat for Croatia. Erminio Frasca of Italy took the silver medal in the competition.

Jointly organized by the National Olympic Committee, Youth and Sports Ministry, Gabala Shooting Club, and the Azerbaijani Shooting Federation, the competition, included 17 types of shooting sports.

This was the sixth stage of the competition. The previous five qualifying stages of the World Cup were held in the USA, Germany, UAE, Cyprus, and Mexico throughout the year.

Azerbaijan was represented by 27 athletes at the event, including Emil Jafarov, Nurlana Jafarova, Pasha Ahadpur, Niyaz Agazade, and others.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/sports/142954.html

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