The Russian expert Vladimir GONTCHAROV played an outstanding final climbing form the fifth place to the highest step of the podium, claiming the second ISSF world cup gold of his career.
Coming in second, Serbia’s Mikec secured Silver winning Serbia’s first medal ever in the 50m Pistol Men event.
The Russian shooter Vladimir GONTCHAROV won today’s 50m Pistol Men event thanks to a great final round. The Russian shooter climbed the scoreboard all the way from the fifth place, shooting Gold with a total score of 666.5 (567+99.5) points. Gontcharov had won his last ISSF world cup medal at the 2004 ISSF world cup stage in Milan, and said to be satisfied to be back on a world-level podium in this event after five years.
Gontcharov had started with a qualification score of 567 points, seven points behind the qualification’s leader Damir MIKEC of Serbia.
Mikec, 25-year old, had indeed started today’s 50m Pistol men final in the lead, with a qualification score of 574 points, and a 6-point head start on the other finalists. The unlucky Serbian athlete wasted his advantage on his second competition shot, when he fired a spine-chilling 5.9 shot jeopardizing his leadership, and giving space to Gontcharov’s comeback.
“The pressure was very high – explained Mikec after the award ceremony – I was standing there in first position, I found a good sight, I aimed, but suddenly my arm swerved to the right… and I shot that 5.9. It has been a big mistake, but I am happy I am on the podium!”
Mikec finished in second claiming Silver with 666.1 (574+92.1) points (“My first medal! This is just my starting point!”). The Serbian shooter had never won a world cup medal before. He had entered his first final round at the beginning of the 2009 season, at the ISSF World Cup in Beijing, where he had finished in eighth place.
Following Mikec, Rashid YUNUSMETOV of Kazakhstan, 29-year old, the winner of this year’s ISSF world cup stage in Beijing, fought right to the last shot to get a spot on the podium. The Kazakh athlete grabbed Bronze at the last shot, finishing on the podium with a total score of 664.9 points.
The winner of the 2006 and 2007 editions of the ISSF world cup stage in Munich, Portugal’s Joao COSTA, finished in fourth place with 663.4 points, followed by the first time participant Lukas GRUNDER of Switzerland, who placed in fifth with a score of 662.9 points.
Following them, the winner of the 2008 edition of the ISSF World Cup in Munich, the 33-year old Japanese shooter MATSUDA Tomoyuki, won a shoot-off for the seventh place against Belarus Yury DAUHAPOLAU, who closed his match in eighth place.