More than 500 shooters met at the IWK Air Gun competition held at the 1972 Olympic Shooting Range of Munich, to compete in the first test match of the year from the 27 through the 30 of January.
The 2010 shooting season is the first step on the path leading to the 2012 Olympic Games, as the first London Olympics Quota Places will be assigned at the 50th ISSF World Championship to be held in Munich, next July. The ISSF World Cup Series will start next march, but Rifle and Pistol shooters met in Munich in these days for the first test match of the season. The traditional IWK Air Weapon competition of Munich gave to international athletes a first chance to meet and compete: the road leading the ISSF World Championship in Munich started from… Munich!
Air Rifle Women – Pfeilschifter equalled the World Record, Emmons back to competition.
The German ace shooter Sonja Pfeilschifter fished in the spotlight during this year’s IWK edition by winning the first 10m Air Rifle Women match equalling the World Record of 400 points, set Seo Sun Hwa (KOR) eight years ago at the ISSF World Cup in Sydney. Pfeilschifter had already tied the World Record two years ago, at the 2008 ISSF World Cup in Milan, and she seems to be used to mark high scores here in Munich, her home range. The Bavarian shooter, competing in front of her supporters, made it into the final round in first place, with three points of advantage on Katerina Emmons, and shot in the lead right to the highest step of the podium, claiming gold with a total of 504.8 points. The 2008 Olympic Champion Emmons came back to International competitions after missing since more than one year: she had stopped competing at the beginning of the 2009 season, as she was expecting a baby with her husband Matthew. She came back to the shooting lines here in Munich, winning a Bronze medal in the first Air Rifle Women match with a total score of 499.6 points and making it into the second match’s final round. “It’s great to be back on competition – said Katerina – I still have to train a little bit, but I feel ready to go. I will take part in the first ISSF World Cup stage in Sydney, and I will probably compete in some other stages. But this year’s most important competition is the ISSF World Championship, next July. I will be there!”
Air Pistol Women – Kostevych back on top
The 2004 Olympic Champion Olena Kostevych of Ukraine has been a protagonist of the IWK’s Air Pistol competitions. The 25-year old pistol shooter won both the Air Pistol women matches, securing two Gold medals back to back. On the first day of competition, the 28th of January, she entered the final match with a qualification score of 387 points, climbing then the scoreboard with a final of 102.1 points. She finished in first claiming Gold with a total of 489.1 points, leaving her Russian opponent Olga Kuznetsova in second with 489.0 points. Kostevych climbed upon the Air Pistol podium once again today, securing her second consecutive Gold medal with a total of 488.1 points. After qualifying for the final match with a score of 391 points, she struggled during the final round, recording 97.1 points out of her ten final shots. Thanks to a consistent head start, she did not jeopardize her match, and left Belarus’ Viktoria Chaika in second place with 486.1 (387+99.1) points. The Ukrainian shooter had been missing for a few years from the top rankings, after her victory at the 2004 Olympic Games. She came back on top here in Munich during last year’s ISSF World Cup stage, when she won Gold outscoring her opponents. Kostevych knows very well the 1972 Olympic Shooting Range of Munich, where she has been competing and winning for years, and this could turn into an advantage next July, when she will take part in the 50th ISSF World Championship trying to secure a Quota Place for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Air Rifle Men – Two medals to Israel’s Rikhter
The Israeli shooter Sergy Rikhter finished on the podium twice, during this year’s IWK Air Weapon event. The 21-year old Rifle shooter won today’s 10m Air Rifle match with a total score of 702.9 (599+103.9) points, leading the match form the first to the last shot. He had claimed a Bronze medal in the first Air Rifle match just two days ago, finishing in third place with 699.1 (598+101.1) points after passing through a shoot-off for the podium. The young shooter had surprised everybody during last year’s ISSF World Cup stage here in Munich, when he had won the Gold medal with an equalled Junior World Record of 599 points outscoring his older opponents. The Olympic multi-medallist Matthew Emmons also took part in the competition. Emmons, who had closed the 2009 season at the ISSF World Cup Final in Wuxi (CHN), finished in tenth place, today, closing with a total of 596 points. The American shooter, here with his wife Katerina, said to be ready for the 2010 season: “Munich’s World Championship is definitely the most important match of the year. Munich’s shooting range is excellent, and there are always some great scores. I heard that more than 2000 people are going to take part in the World Championship, because of the Olympic Quotas. It is going be interesting: so many athletes know this shooting range, most of them have probably competed here more than once, and therefore the match is going to be even tougher!” “I am going through our national selection matches – Emmons added – And I think I will take part in the first ISSF World Cup stage in Sydney”.
Air Pistol Men – Russian shooters led the match
The Russian pistol team proved once again to be almost unbeatable, here in Munich. Both the 10m Air Pistol Man matches were won by Russian shooters that left few chances of victory to their opponents. The winner of the 2009 ISSF World Cup in Munich Vladimir Gontcharov, 33, secured two medals back to back. First he claimed Gold at the first match, finishing in first place with 684,9 (583+101.9) points, and then closed the second match in third place claiming a Bronze medal. His teammate Vladimir Isakov, an Olympic Bronze medallist of Beijing 2008, won the second match.