THE 50TH ISSF WORLD SHOOTING CHAMPIONSHIP IN MUNICH

Photo: Massimiliano Naldoni (2)
pISTOL EVENTS
[i] TwO wOrld TiTles
50m pISTOL mEN
NO ONE LIkE maTSuda
maTsUda TOmOyUKi became the real hero
of this 50 th ISSF World Championship in all
shooting events, and undoubtedly, the name
of this smiling Japanese shooter will have a
special place in the history of this competition.
Matsuda has been the only athlete able to
win two World Titles in two different Olympic
events, during this Championship. The 34year
old Police Officer from Yokoama started
winning at the 50m Pistol Men event. Entering
the final match with a qualification score
of 572 points and with a consistent advantage
of four points over his competitors, the
right-handed pistol shooter lead the match
with ease. Keeping his Korean opponent Lee
Daemyung at a distance during the whole the
ten-shot competition, Matsuda managed his
advantage and scored 97.7 points, finishing
2nd lee, daemyung (KOr)
upon the highest step of the podium with a
total score of 669.7 points.
lee daemyUnG eventually finished in
second place behind him, obtaining the Silver
medal and an Olympic Quota place for his
country. The 21-year old Korean athlete, who
won a 10m Air Pistol Junior Silver medal during
the 2006 World Championship in Zagreb,
finished upon Munich’s podium after shooting
a strong final match. Qualified in fourth place
with 567 points, he climbed the scoreboard by
shooting 98.2 points and a total of 665.2 points.
His excellent results (and the scores of his
team-mates Jin Jong Oh and Han Seung Woo)
also boosted the Korean team to the top of the
teams’ podium. While Matsuda’s victory came
after years of good international placements,
it was a real surprise to see Kazakhstan’s
3rd pOdlesnyy, vyacheslav (KaZ)
50 th ISSF World ChampIoNShIp muNICh
1st maTsUda, Tomoyuki (Jpn)
vyacheslav pOdlesny earn a Bronze
medal and also obtain the first 2012 Olympic
Quota Place for his country. The Kazakh shooter
won an odd-defying match and finished on
a podium that nobody honestly expected him
to climb. The 32-year old shooter, ranked 73 in
the world in this event, had never participated
in a World Championship before, and the best
place in his career had been a 42nd at this
year’s World Cup stage in Fort Benning, USA.
By entering today’s final in second place with
568 points and then finishing on the podium
with 662.1 points, he surprised even himself,
as he declared right after the match while
being interviewed before the Eurovision cameras
in the mixed zone.
The current World Rank leader, American
sharpshooter Daryl Szarenski, did not make it
to the Quota Places. He finished in sixth place
behind Russia’s Vladimir Gontcharov with a
total score of 655.0 (562+93.0) points, missing
the Olympic qualification spot by 4 points. The
42-year old American shooter, who led the
whole World Cup Season this year, shot two
times in the eighth and once in the seventh
ring during the final round, jeopardizing his
chances to climb upon the podium. China’s
Zhang Tian closed in seventh behind him
with 652.6 points after shooting a frustrating
6.0-shot, while the 2008 Olympic Finalist Oleg
Omelcuk of Ukraine was affected by the pressure
and finished in eighth and last place with
a total of 652.3 points, marking the lower final
score, 89.3 points.
ISSF NEWS 43