The 28-year old shooter qualified for the 2012 Olympics in London beating the 2004 Olympic Champ Alipov. The second Quota went to Czech Republic’s Jiri Gach, third on today’s podium.
It was Croatia’s Giovanni Cernogoraz who won today’s Trap Men final at the 2011 ISSF Shotgun World Cup in Beijing, China, finishing in first place with an overall score of 145 hits.
Together with the medal, the 28-year old shooter also secured an Olympic Quota Place, a pass to the 2012 Olympic Games.
Walking into the match in second place with a qualification score of 121 hits, Cernogoraz duelled throughout the whole medal round against the 2004 Olympic Champion Alexey Alipocv of Russia.
Hitting 24 out of 25 final targets, the Croatian shooter climbed in the lead, overtaking his Russian opponent who landed in second place with a total score of 144 hits, one target behind him.
“Before the final I was kind of nervous, but now I just feel great. Finally the medal came!” Cernogoraz said. Shooting since 1998, he had never won an ISSF World Cup medal, before.
“I had been closed to the victory several times. – He added - I even made it to the final, once. But there was always something going wrong, one or two targets missing, and I had never made it to the podium, before.”
“I trained a lot, technically, physically and psychologically, to win this Quota Place.” Explained the winner, who was ranked 64th in the world, until today.
“I will go to the Olympic Games. I won the Quota, and I will be representing my country in London, next year. That’s how it works, in Croatia.” He added.
Russia’s 35-year old Trap champion Alexey Alipov, who had started the match in the lead with 123 hits, ended up in second place, securing the Silver medal with an overall score of 144 targets.
Alipov was followed by Czech Republic’s Jiri Gach, 41, who finished in third place with a total score of 143 (120+23) hits, winning the Bronze medal and the second Olympic Quota to be awarded today. The Czech Shooter, ranked 44th in the world, had finished on an ISSF podium just once, before, back in 1998.
The three shooters who had made the final through a shoot-off with 119 targets, Slovakia’s Marian Kovacocy, Czech Republic Jiri Liptak and Russia’s Igor Chebanov finished in fourth, fifth and sixth places with 137, 136 and 133 total hits, respectively.
The Trap Men Final closed this year’s ISSF Shotgun World Cup Stage in Beijing. After ten days, five competitions and ten Olympic Quotas assigned, the ISSF World Cup Series moves now to Fort Benning, USA, where a Rifle & Pistol stage will be held starting from May 14.