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Matt Emmons, Vincent Hancock Earn Fourth Place Finishes
By Mary Beth Vorwerk // USA Shooting // April 22, 2008
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 21, 2008) – The final day of competition at the “Good Luck Beijing” 2008 ISSF World Cup took place on Sunday in the midst of a cold hard downpour of rain, with Vincent Hancock (Eatonton, Ga.) and Matt Emmons (Browns Mills, N.J.) earning a spot in the finals and each finishing in fourth place in their respective events.
Olympic gold medalist Matt Emmons (Browns Mills, N.J.) shot first, entering the Men’s 50m 3 Position Rifle final in third place. Despite having a strong showing in the final, firing a score of 97.1, in the end it was not enough to maintain the third spot and Emmons finished in fourth place with a total score of 1266.1. Josselin Henry of France took the gold in Men’s 3 Position with a total score of 1268.8, while Ukraine’s Jury Sukhorukov finished second with 1268.0 and Sergei Kovalenko of Russia finished just ahead of Emmons in third place with 1266.9.
U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU) member and 2007 World Cup Italy Champion/world record holder Hancock entered the Men’s Skeet final in first place with 121 targets, but the cold and rainy conditions caused Hancock to miss four targets in the final and he finished in the fourth spot with a total score of 142 targets. China’s Ridong Qu claimed the gold with a total score of 144 targets, while Russia’s Konstantin Tsuranov defeated Italy’s Andrea Filippetti in a shoot-off for the silver.
Emmons has already secured two spots on the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team in Men’s Prone and Men’s 3 Position Rifle and Hancock will also represent the U.S. in Men’s Skeet at the Olympic Games in Beijing this August.
The "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 ISSF World Cup was held April 11-20 at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall and Beijing Shooting Range Clay-Target Field (CTF) with the U.S. Shooting Team earning a total of seven medals (two silver medals, five bronze medals) during the event.
Three-time Olympian Bret Erickson (Muenster, Texas) earned the bronze medal in Men’s Trap, while 2004 Olympic gold medalist Matt Emmons (Browns Mill, N.J.) took the silver medal in Men’s Air Rifle and two-time Olympian Glenn Eller (Katy, Texas) captured the silver in Men’s Double Trap. Erickson, Emmons and Eller have all qualified for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team.
Two-time Olympian Daryl Szarenski (Saginaw, Mich.) claimed the bronze in the Men’s 50m Pistol event and 2007 Pan American Games gold medalist Haley Dunn (Eddyville, Iowa) also claimed the bronze medal in Women’s Skeet. Two-time Olympian and world record holder Tom Tamas (Columbus, Ga.) and Michael McPhail (Darlington, Wis.) claimed the silver and bronze medals respectively in the Men’s Prone event.
This event was the only shooting competition where athletes were able to test their shooting skills at the new Olympic shooting venues prior to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The Beijing Games will be held August 8–24, with the shooting portion of the competition taking place August 9-17.
More than 1200 shooters from 92 countries competed in the Beijing World Cup, making it the largest shooting event ever in China. Thirty-five Olympians and Olympic hopefuls from the U.S. competed in 15 different men’s and women’s events during the nine day competition.
For complete results from all of the events at the "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 ISSF World Cup, please visit www.issf.tv or www.shooting2008.org/en/
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