With five gold medals out of ten events, Russia veterans became the biggest winners of the Shooting World Cup Final in rifle and pistol while the other shooting giant China delighted in the emergence of the young talents in contrast.

Sergei Alifirenko, 46-year plus 214-day old, was the oldest winner of the tournament, which concluded Munich on Saturday. Producing a new world record of 589 points in the qualifying round of the men's 25m rapid fire pistol event, the Sydney Olympic gold medalist held on to the position in a breathtaking final, winning by just three tenth of a point.

Compatriot Boris Kokorev was three months younger than Alifirenko. The Atlanta Olympic Champion in 10m air pistol grabbed the gold medal in the men's 50m pistol of the tournament by a decisive 7.9 to 7.1 from China's Lin Zhongzai, 24, in the shoot-off.

Mikhail Nestruev, 36, double Olympic medal winner in Athens held back another Chinese veteran Tan Zongliang's severe challenge and moved up to the first place after the 10-shot final round.

The 35-year-old Sergei Kovalenko outperformed the other shooters both in the qualification and the final round to take the title of the men's rifle three positions with a total score of 1275.6.

Denis Sokolov was the only new face of the Russian gold squad. The new comer of the tournament won his first international title in the men's 10m air rifle on 698.9 points in total.

In contrast, the Chinese youngsters put in impressive performances in the tournament, rated as the first major shooting event in the new Olympic cycle.

Wu Liuxi, 20, became the only shooter who grabbed two medals in the three-day competition. Beating Russian veteran Tatiana Goldobina with an advantage of two full points, the Chinese new comer won her first gold in the event. Two days later, Wu got a bronze in the air rifle event, beaten by her teammates Du Li and Zhao Yinghui, both 23 years old.

Besides Lin who lost to Nestruev only in the shoot-off, Fei Fengji, 23, was another hope in pistol events for the Chinese delegation.

Fei Fengji shot the highest final score of 204.3 in the women's 25m pistol and finished second, only inferior to her teammate Chen Ying, 27.

"The Russian veterans showed great form," said Wang Yifu, double Olympic gold medalist and now head coach of the Chinese team. "They will be our main opponent in the 2008 Olympics for sure."

Olympic champion Zhu Qinan and Jia Zhanbo in men's air rifle and rifle three positions respectively both underperformed in this tournament.

"We still have much to improve in men's rifle events." said Wang, "We have got several young shooters with great potential."

As for the prospect for the Russian team, which was dimmed by the Chinese in Athens, in the next Olympics in Beijing 2008, Nestruev replied, "We know it will be hard, because we will be the guest and they are the host."

Source: Xinhua