Shooter Mosin brings Russia 1st gold at Good Luck Beijing

BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Vasily Mosin, Russian shooter in men's double trap, won the first gold medal at the Good Luck Beijing ISSF World Cup for his country, a powerhouse in shooting events but dormant during the first several days.

The competition was not at all suspensive, as the 36-year-old World Cup champion in 2005 and 2006 in the discipline lead all the way to shoot down 191 birds.

Striding into the final round with a highest 145 hits and a four-hit margin from the second-placer, he started well but missed two targets in the fifth and sixth pairs. However, thanks to the rest finalists' lapses he nonetheless maintained his margin unchanged.

In the following competition, the athlete let go of three birds in the 11th, 20th and 23rd pairs. In spite of this, downing both targets in the 24th pair ensured him the gold medal in advance.

"I have never competed in such a 'summer snow', " said the light-hearted champion referring to the clusters of willow flowers floating in the air at this season in Beijing.

"The willow flowers really disturbed me, and they made the competition especially difficult," he said.

In contrast, some other big names in Russian shooting squad seemed less dazzling.

Among them was 40-year-old Mikhail Nestruev, Athens Olympic Games champion who scored 558 points in the qualification round of men's 50-meter pistol on Tuesday and was stopped outside the final.

"Misha is just not prepared, but this doesn't mean he is not capable, " said Oleg Lapkin, head coach of the Russian squad, "He is pursuing further studies in diplomacy and will graduate this year."

It is not decided who will compete in the forthcoming Beijing Olympic Games. "I will try to defend my championship if I can come," said Nestruev.

Another famous shooter Lioubov Galkina, 35 who is Athens Olympics gold medallist in women's 50-meter rifle three positions and runner-up in women 's 10-meter air rifle, finished the fourth in the latter discipline on Saturday.

"I feel satisfied with the result," said the new mother who missed last competition season due to pregnancy, "I am regaining my sharpness, but time is limited before the Olympic Games."

Also losing the gold medal are Olympic champion Alexey Alipov, who took a silver in men's trap after a shoot-off on Sunday, and Natalia Paderina, 33, who took a silver and several bronzes in world cups but finished sixth in women's 10-meter air pistol a day before.

Bronze medallist at the 2006 World Shooting Championships, 31-year-old Vladimir Gontcharov, once led in the final of men's 10-meter air pistol but stirred a fuss at the eighth of the ten-shot final when he scored just 6.4 point to surrender the gold.

In fact, situation was similar for the Chinese shooting team, when World Record holders Du Li and Ren Jie both compromised with bronzes in women's 10-meter air rifle and 10-meter air pistol, and some other hopeful athletes who are to compete in the Olympics like Tan Zongliang, champion in men's ten-meter air pistol at the 2006 Doha Asian Games even failed to edge into the final.

The team seemed to wake up on Monday with both gold medals enwrapped, while on Tuesday, Chinese shooter Lin Zhongzai crowned in men's 50-meter pistol with 667.2 points despite a not-so-perfect ending with a 7.7 point.

"We have just some a hundred days away from the Olympics and we have intensified our training, " said Wang Yifu, head coach of the Chinese national shooting team.

"We have much pressure competing on our own soil, but we must try to tide it over," he said.