Preview: Day 3 at the ISSF Rifle / Pistol World Cup in Munich (live)
Alessandro Ceschi
Qualifications for both events are underway
Finals for the men's 50m rifle prone and 25m rapid fire pistol will take place tomorrow, day 3 of the season's sixth World Cup stage in Munich, Germany.
The 50m rifle prone final will be at 10:30 am (CEST); the 25m rapid fire pistol's, at 4 pm.
Both elimination relays for the men's 50m rifle prone have just closed (seeresults). The qualification stage will be tomorrow from 8:45 am to 9:35 am (see start list).
The first qualification stage for the men's 25m rapid fire pistol event was today (see results). The second stage will be tomorrow from 9 am to 3 pm.
Men's 50m rifle prone
Relay 1
Serbia's Stevan Pletikosic, a bronze medalist at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, --a qualification round will also follow.
Russia's Sergey Kamenskiy, the World Cup title holder, came in sixth (627.1). Ukraine's Serhiy Kulish, a Youth Olympic Bronze Medalist at Singapore 2010, came in 10th (625.9).
Eric Uptagrafft, who hasn't won a World Cup gold in 11 years, came in fourth (625.4). Tomorrow he will shoot on the same range where he won the World Cup Final title in 2005.
India's Gagan Narang, who ranks fourth worldwide, only came in 31th (620.4). Narang won bronze at the London Olympics in 2008, but hasn't made any World Cup podium since.
Among the most relevant athletes is Germany's Christian Reitz, a 2008 Olympic Bronze Medalist ranked fourth in the world. Reitz has won bronze medal last month in Fort Benning too.
Also from Germany, Oliver Geis will try to follow up on his gold in Fort Benning. Then, Geis also secured an Olympic quota place.
He has never won a World Cup gold, although he ranks seventh worldwide--Martin Strnad of the Czech Republic will be looking for his first success in Munich. He was very close to the podium in Fort Benning--he came in fourth.
Last year Keith Sanderson of the USA won gold in Fort Benning after undergoing arm surgery. Sanderson hasn't made any medal since, and will try to get back on the podium.
Cuba's Leuris Pupo, an Olympic Gold at London 2012, will try to repeat his Fort Benning performance--which had earned him a silver medal.