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  • Olympic champs on target in final

    Olympic champs on target in final

    The Nation (Thailand)
    October 28, 2004, Thursday


    [SHOOTING] Two-time Olympics gold medallist Maria Grozdeva of Bulgaria
    showed her class in the womens air pistol event, while two other Athens
    champions were below par as the ISSF World Cup final started yesterday
    at the Hua Mark Shooting Range.



    The 32-year-old from Sofia produced a solid final score of 691.6 to
    walk away with the first gold medal of the meet and extended her
    brilliant performance with the air pistol following her wins in the
    Sydney and Athens Olympics.

    While Grozdeva, who had to be content with the silver in the Bangkok
    World Cup in February, lived up to expectations, this years Summer
    Olympics gold medallists Wang Yifu of China and Matthew Emmons of the
    US did not even make it into the top three positions.

    Veteran Yifu shot only 584 in the mens air pistol qualification round
    and ended the final with only 683.8 for sixth position. He failed to
    repeat his form in Athens and the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona where he
    won the gold.

    New Jersey-based Emmons, whose solid 703.3 scoreline propelled him to
    the mens rifle prone gold medal in Athens, was not at his best in the
    same category after firing 668.6 to finish fifth.

    With a perfect score of 600 in the preliminary round, Olympic silver
    medallist Christian Lusch of Germany left all competitors behind in the
    final with 702.1 to snatch the gold medal in the mens rifle prone
    event. He beat two Belarussians, Yury Shcherbatsevich and Sergei
    Martyynov, who finished second and third.

    Russian Mikhail Nestruev made amends for his loss to Wang Yifu in
    Athens when he took the silver to win the mens air pistol gold.
    Armenias Norayr Bakhtamyan, unable to maintain his lead in the
    qualification, took the silver, followed by Russian Vladimir
    Gontcharov.

    Jakkrit Panichpatikum, the only Thai eligible for the meet, was no
    match for the elite shooters as he scored only 580 to finish ninth in
    the field of 10 in the qualification round, which saw his aim of making
    the final cut fall through.

    In the concurrent SEASA Shooting Championships exclusive only to
    regional participants, Vietnamese shooters took the lions share of gold
    medals by winning two of four gold on offer yesterday.

    Lerpong Amsa-ngiamThe Nation
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