Matt Emmons wins Silver.

[USA Shooting]

2004 Olympic Gold Medalist and 2008 Olympic Team qualifier, Matt Emmons (Browns Mill, N.J.) earned the silver medal in Men's Air Rifle Monday at the Beijing World Cup. The World Cup, officially named the "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 ISSF World Cup, is the test event for the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games.



Emmons entered the finals tied for first with Hungary's Peter Sidi, who both shot a preliminary score of 599. In the final, Emmons shot a 101.7, giving him a total score of 700.7 and landing him just one tenth of a point shy of the gold medal. China's Qinan Zhu entered the final with a 597 and shot a final score of 103.8, allowing him to claim gold with a 700.8. Gagan Narang of India earned the bronze medal with a total score of 700.3.



Competition continues Tuesday with the Men's 50m Pistol final and the Men's Double Trap final.



The "Good Luck Beijing" 2008 ISSF World Cup is being held at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall and Beijing Shooting Range Clay-Target Field (CTF), with competition running through April 20. This event is the only shooting competition where athletes will be 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 are competing in the Beijing World Cup, which makes this competition the largest shooting event ever in China. Thirty-five Olympians and Olympic hopefuls from the U.S. will be competing in 15 different men’s and women’s events during this nine day competition.



Results can be found at: http://www.issf.tv/issftv_table.aspx?mo ... se=results



The complete competition schedule can be found at: http://www.issf-shooting.org/update/schedule.asp?id=828



The “Good Luck Beijing” website can be found at: http://www.shooting2008.org/en/



Photos by Scott Pilkington can be found at: http://www.pilk-uns.com/picsW/ch8.htm