The 2004 Olympic Champ “will shoot the 3 positions event” at the next Games. Matthew Emmons made the USA’s Olympic team, while two Olympic Quotas went to Slovakia's Gonci and Austria's Farnik.
We knew he was a great 10m Air Rifle shooter, and today he proved to be extremely competitive even on the 50-meter distance. Zhu Qinan of China, the 2004 10-meter Air Rifle Olympic Champion, won today’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men final at the ISSF Combined World Cup in Sydney, Australia. The 26-year old athlete made it to the final round with an unreachable qualification score of 1176 points, placing him in the lead with five points of advantage on his followers. Enough to grant him a spot on the podium. With a final of 95.4 points, Zhu finished indeed in first, securing the Gold with a total score of 1271.4 points.
Zhu has won an impressive number of 21 ISSF World Cup medals, since he started shooting in 2003. Every time he competed in an ISSF World Cup stage he finished on the podium but once (his only defiance occurred at the 2004 ISSF World Cup in Bangkok, when he finished 33rd). But, surprisingly, today’s victory was a “first time”, for him. All his medals were indeed won in the 10m Air Rifle Men event. “I think I will compete also in the Rifle 3 Positions event, at the next Games!” said Zhu, the Air Rifle specialist, who has already secured a pass to London 2012 at last year’s ISSF World Championship.
It was USA’s Olympic Champion Matthew Emmons who secured the Silver medal. The 29-year old American shooter scored 101.0 points in the final, trying to catch up the qualification leaders. He finished then in second with a total score of 1270.0 (1169+101.0) points. Matthew had already won an Olympic Quota Place at the 2010 ISSF World Championship, and today’s podium qualified him to be part of USA’s Olympic team “I made the team, with this Silver medal!” Emmons said after the final.
Emmons, who secured 17 World Cup medals in this event throughout his shooting career, had won his last ISSF medal in 2010, when he finished on the highest step of the podium at the ISSF World Cup Stage in Belgrade. “I will be competing in Fort Benning and in Munich, and then I will probably be a spectator at the European Championship.”
The Silver medallist of the last ISSF World Championship, Korea’s Han Jinseop, 29, ranked second in the world, ended up in third place securing Bronze with 1268.0 (1171+97.0) points. The Korean shooter had already won an Olympic Quota Place for his country at the 2010 World Championship. As well as his teammate Kim Jonghyun, eight today with 1265.0 (1166+99.0) points.
As all the other shooters in the final already had an Olympic Quota Place, today’s two quotas went to Slovakia’s Josef Gonci, fourth with 1267.7 (1168+99.7) points and to Austria’s Thomas Farnik, seventh with 1265.1 (1165+100.1) points.
Italy’s Niccolo Campriani ended up in fifth place, with a total score of 1266.1 points, after marking 101.1 points in the medal match, today’s best score. Serbia’s Nemanja Mirosavljev followed him in sixth with 1265.3 (1165+100.3) points.
The 2011 ISSF Combined World Cup Stage in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events continued this afternoon with two more finals. Don’t miss the show, follow the results, check the photos and watch the videos of the competition at www.issf-sports.org and on the new ISSF’s channels on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Olympic-Shooting-ISSF), YouTube (www.youtube.com/issfchannel) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/Shooting_Sport)