The 2016 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup Final in Bologna, Italy, was closed today by a classic match: the Champions Trophy sponsored by SIUS, the official ISSF Results Provider.
The rules of the Trophy are easy and challenging: only the ISSF World Cup Final medalists are eligible to participate in the Champions Trophy, and they are allowed to choose between a 10m Air Rifle and a 10m Air Pistol match.
The matches are conducted in an elimination fashion: after the first four shots, the athlete with the lowest score has to leave the firing line. From there on, after every shot, the lowest ranked shooter is eliminated. When only two athletes are left on the line, their scores are set back to zero, and three single shots are fired to determinate the winner of the Champions Trophy.
The stakes are high: the winners of the Rifle and of the Pistol matches are awarded a 5.000,00 € check each, sponsored by SIUS and ISSF.
It was India’s Jitu Rai who claimed the Pistol Champions Trophy, beating Serbia’s Damir Mikec in the final rush by 29.6 to 28.3 points. Rio 2016 Olympic Champion Anna Korakaki was left in third place at the end of the elimination round.
At the following Rifle Champions Trophy, the winner of today’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men event Sergey Kamenskiy of the Russian Federation pocketed the 5.000,00 € prize, beating China’s two-time Olympic Champion Du Li by a mere 0.1 margin, with a score of 31.7 to 31.6 points after three shots. London 2012 Olympic gold medalist Yi Siling followed them in third place.
Once again, at the end of a successful ISSF World Cup Series and of a great Olympic cycle, it’s the time to say: thank you SIUS!