Hungary’s Peter Sidi won the 10m Air Rifle Men Gold, beating Israel’s Rikhter at the last shot. China’s Wang Tao finished in third. Olympic Quotas went to Israel, Ukraine and France.
The 10m Air Rifle Men event opened the 2011 ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea, today.
It was Hungary’s champion Peter Sidi who made it into the final with the highest score, 598 points, after the qualifications.
The 2010 World Championship Silver medallist started off his match with a frustrating 9.8 shot, sliding down in the placements. But, with a perfect 10.9 on his third competition shot, the Hungarian athlete climbed back in the top-3.
Fighting neck and neck against Israel’s Sergey Rikhter throughout the whole match, Sidi eventually finished on the highest step of the podium, outdoing Rikhter with a great 10.7 last shot.
“The brightest medal was in my sights, today” Sidi said right after the final match, looking at his total score, 702.6 (598+104.6) points. “This is my first World Cup Gold this year, I was looking for it.”
“Jet-lag did not bother me, this time. I made a big mistake, at the previous World Cup in Sydney. I arrived in Australia just two days before the competition, and jet lag affected my performance. Here, with only 7-hour time difference and a few more days to get used to it, things went definitely better.”
“My next aim? More medals, nothing less!” concluded the 19-time World Cup medallist Sidi with a smile on his face.
Quota Places to Israel, Ukraine and France
Three Quota Places, the “entrance tickets” to the 2012 Olympic Games, were to be assigned at today’s final. As five out of eight finalists had already secured one, or their countries had already reached the maximum number of quotas in this event, the three Olympic tickets automatically went to Sergey Richter of Israel, Artur Aivazian of Ukraine and Jeremy Monnier of France.
It was Israel’s Rikhter who tried to steal Sidi’s show, today, stepping into the final with a first shot of 10.8 points. The 21-year old shooter, who had qualified with 597 points, fought neck and neck against China’s Wang Tao and Sidi right to the end of the match. The young athlete, who had missed the Olympic qualification in Sydney just days ago, eventually ended up in second place with 701.6 (597+104.6) points, securing the Silver and a Quota Place to participate in the 2012 Games.
“I have been looking for this Quota place for years” Rikhter said after the match “We have internal selection in Israel, to make the Olympic team, but I hope I will participate in the next Games...”
“But Rikhter will most certainly make the Olympic team. He has already passed through our internal qualifications, so he will be in London at 99,9%!” The Secretary General of Israel Shooting Federation Yair Davidovich said right after the final.
Wang Tao of China, 28, who had finished in the spotlights at last year’s ISSF World Cup in Fort Benning by winning a Silver medal in this event, took today’s Bronze medal, placing in third with 701.4 (597+104,4 points)
The 2008 Olympic Champion Artur Aivazian of Ukraine placed in fourth, securing the second Olympic Quota Place with 700.2 (597+103.2) points. He was followed by Cyrill Grafft of France, fifth with 698.6 (597+101.6) points, while the home hero, Korea’s Kim Jonghyun ended up in sixth with 698.4 (597+101.4) points.
The third Olympic Quota Place went to Jeremy Monnier of France, who closed the round in eighth place behind Russia’s Sokolov, with a total score of 695.6 (595+100.6) points.
Five hundred shooters are competing in Changwon in these days, in the third leg of the 2011 ISSF Wold Cup Series. The best shooters of the world came here trying to secure one of the 24 Olympic Quota Places to be assigned during this competition.
The next medal match, the 50m Pistol Men Final, will take place later on this afternoon, at 2.30 PM (GMT +9). Don’t miss the match on www.issf-sports.org!