WCF >

★
EMMONS STEALS
WUXI’S HEART
The USA’s Olympic Champion Matthew Emmons
confirmed his leadership in the 50m Rifle
Three Positions Men event again by winning
his fifth ISSF World Cup Final Gold medal, earning
once more the title he had won at the 2008
World Cup Final in Bangkok. The American
shooter won both the most valuable medal as
well as the hearts of the Chinese audience,
scoring more points then anyone else, and
earning the warmest applauses from the audience.
Emmons won the Gold with a total score
of 1277.3 points, climbing from the third place
he originally had thanks to an outstanding final
score of 100.3 points, the highest score shot in
this final round. While he was moving up from
the third position towards the lead, the Chinese
audience crowding Wuxi’s final hall “forgot”
the two Chinese shooters struggling in sixth
and eighth place, and started cheering for him,
clapping after every shot. “I realized they were
cheering for me. That’s awesome. It’s an emo-
tion I cannot describe. The USA and China are
often rivals in these Olympic competitions…
but this audience made me feel like I was at
home!” said Emmos, signing autographs for
the audience and journalists after the medal
ceremony. “I am thrilled about this victory – he
added, speaking about the final – I changed my
sightings after the 50m Rifle Prone event, and
I was quite confident as I walked into the final
hall. It has been a great day!” The leader during
qualifications, Korean shooter Han Jinseop,
closed the match in second place, finishing
behind Emmons with a total score of 1274.6
points. Han had entered the final match with
the highest qualification score of 1180 points,
three points more than Emmons, but he lost his
advantage as he shot twice in the eighth ring,
and his final score of 94.6 points turned out to
be too weak to defeat Emmon’s 100.3.
Twenty-one year old Norwegian Rifle
shooter Ole Magnus Bakken turned out to be
the unlucky athlete of the final. The young
champion, one of the best rifle shooters of this
year’s ISSF World Cup Series, made it into the
WCF WUXI
final tied to Han in the lead, thanks to a qualification
score of 1180 points. Keeping his advantage
over Emmons, he came close to the Gold
medal, but a terrible last shot of 5.3 points sent
him to third place, earning a Bronze medal,
with a total score of 1270.0 points (1180+90.0).
“Really everything can happen… a match’s result
can really change at the last shot, it’s not
the first time that it happens…” commented
Gold medalist Emmons.
India’s hope, Air Rifle specialist Gagan Narang,
closed the final round in fourth place with
a total score of 1267.3 points. Following him,
2008 Olympic Bronze medalist Debevec of Slovenia
placed in fifth place with 1266.8 points,
while the two Chinese team-mates He and Qui
finished in sixth and eighth place, separated
by Italy’s Niccolò Campriani, who closed the
round in seventh, as he had started.
50M RIFLE 3 POSITIONS MEN
★ SILVER HAN, Jinseop (KOR) ★ BRONZE BAKKEN, Ole Magnus (NOR)
★ Awards 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men
★ GOLD EMMONS, Matthew (USA)
ISSF NEWS 17