The first "gold" fell into Russian bins only on the third day of the World Cup. The recent vice-champion of Europe 2006 Natalia Paderina has improved her status. In shooting with a pneumatic pistol from a distance of 10 meters, the debutant calmly increased her lead over her rivals and won her first world championship medal.
The second Russian personal award that day was won by Vladimir Isakov. In firing a small-caliber pistol from a distance of 50 meters, the 36-year-old athlete compensated for the failure of his comrades with a bronze medal.
Russian athletes were not limited to these achievements. Natalia Paderina, Svetlana Smirnova and Galina Belyaeva won the bronze, and Mikhail Nestruev, Vladimir Goncharov and Vladimir Isakov won the silver. Juniors did not stand aside. “Gold” and “bronze” brought Leonid Ekimov and Ivan Stukachev in firing from a small-caliber pistol from 25 meters. And taking into account the results of Viktor Bailagashev, the guys took first place in the team tournament.
However, the trend of the previous days remained. Team performances of Russians are much better than personal ones. This brightens up a series of failures of our leaders a little. Mikhail Nestruyev, who failed the pneumatic gun, could not cope with the small-caliber. Here he could not even reach the final, having stopped at the qualification stage.
Two years ago, Nestruyev became the Olympic champion in this discipline. “He honestly, in sports, selected for the World Cup in five exercises,” head coach Oleg Lapkin wonders, “but I don’t understand what is happening to him in Zagreb. I can assume that he was very upset after the failure the day before and still has not recovered. ”
A pass to the final eight of the best was received only by Vladimir Isakov. The second result of the day gave hope to the bronze medalist of the Olympics (albeit in a different exercise) to maintain a place in the top three. He lost only to the Chinese Tanu Zonglianu.
“I defended my world title obtained four years ago, but it was possible to fight with me,” the Chinese athlete said after the award. The Italian Virgilio Veit offered decent resistance to the Chinese, who initially gave an advantage not only to the Asian shooter, but also to Vladimir Isakov. The Russian was disappointingly lost the accumulated backlog - only one tenth separated him from second place.
Natalya Paderina did not allow the Russian shooters to become discouraged. "I'm so happy. I just have no words, ”Natalya was not used to showing emotions in public. Maybe it is this quality that helps her concentrate like no one else on the firing line. “She is one of the few athletes with high psychological stability,” Oleg Lapkin says of her.
In the final, a native of Yekaterinburg reached 387 points. Her rivals Zhong Hu from China and Dina Aspandyarova from Australia had the same amount. This is where the moment came to show my composure.
As a result, only Natalya Paderina and Zhong Hu remained on the podium, and the company was made up of Belarusian Victoria Chaika.
For the 29-year-old Paderina, the world championship in Zagreb is the first in her sports career. Its results began to grow markedly several years ago. “Probably, this was influenced by the birth of a child and a happy family life,” suggests Oleg Lapkin.
Paderina won the European Championships twice - in 2001 and 2004. However, at the Olympics, luck turned its back on her. It's a shame to be in the finals and stay only fifth. The athlete was very worried about this failure. Natalia took a break, devoting herself to family life and having a baby, and was thinking of ending up with sports, but the persistent husband again took his wife to the shooting gallery.
Now Natalya hopes that success will continue to accompany her, including at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where she would like to speak: "This is my cherished dream." From that moment, the dream became a step closer, because Russia, along with the success of Paderina, received an Olympic license.
World Shooting Championship
Zagreb (Croatia)
Air gun, 10 m
Women
1. N. Paderina (Ros.) - 486.9
2. Ch. Hu (Kit.) - 485.2
3.V. Chaika (Blr.) - 485.1
Team tournament
1. China - 1154
2. Belarus - 1140
3. Russia - 1138
Small caliber pistol, 50 m
Men
1. T. Zonglian (Kit.) - 667.1
2. V. Fait (It.) - 662.8
3. V. Isakov (Ros.) - 662.7
Team tournament
1. China - 1685
2. Russia - 1668
3. Italy - 1667
Juniors
Small caliber pistol, 25m
1. L. Ekimov (Ros.) - 580 (50)
2. T. Savage (Fr.) - 580 (48)
3. I. Stukachev (Ros.) - 576
Team tournament
1. Russia - 1721
2. France - 1715
3. Korea - 1695