500 athletes from 44 nations participated in the ISSF Junior Cup which closes in Suhl (GER) today

The first ISSF Junior Cup of the year saw over 500 young athletes coming from all over the world competing in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events in Suhl, Germany.
 
Running from June 25th until today, the the 2015 ISSF Junior Cup has just closed in Suhl, Germany.
 
During the one-week competition, 572 athletes from 44 nations engaged in rifle, pistol, shotgun, and mixed events, adding up to 948 starts.
 
The Junior Cup, which Cup had debuted last year in the same location, allows athletes that are up to 20 years of age to compete in dedicated events, including both Olympic and Youth Olympic events. 
 
Three young shooters stood out at the competition, securing more than one medal: Russia's Evgeniy Ishchenko, Switzerland's Vanessa Hofstetter, and India's Shivam Suhkla. Ishchenko won the gold at the men's 50m Rifle Prone, and then collected silver at the 10m Air Rifle. Hofstetter came in third in the women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions, adding then a silver medal won on the lines of the 10m Air Rifle final. India's Shukla, on his side, pocketed two Gold medals back to back, at the 25m Pistol Men and at the 25m Standard Pistol Men events. 
 
At the end of the competition, it was the Russian Federation that finished atop of the medals' standings, pocketing an outstanding total of 22 awards, including 13 Gold, 4 Silver and 5 Bronze medals. Switzerland followed in second place, with 10 medals (5 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Bronze), while the junior shotgun team pushed Italy up to the third place, with 3 Gold, 7 Silver and 5 Bronze medals.  
 
Franz Schreiber, the ISSF Secretary General, commented at the end of the event: "I feel very happy, the competition was excellently prepared, and excellently conducted."
 
"It's really a nice atmosphere in Suhl here at the Junior Cup." He added, saying that he liked the "great mood" of everybody at the competition -- juniors, officials, spectators.
 
"The future are our juniors," Mr. Franz Schreiber continued. "The youth is creating our sport, and you can see here very well that juniors have their own ideas of how a final should be conducted."
 
"If you go here in a final, there's no silence. There's a lot of noise, there's clapping. There's even horns, trumpets, and everything. And the noise is tremendous, but that's the way they like it."
 
"We should watch them very carefully, and make them the best possible way for the future. The juniors are the ones who create the sport for the future."
 
"There are several challenges that we have to fulfill," The Secretary General said. "But if i look here at the Junior Cup, I don't have fear of the future because the sport is really growing. The future is, as far as we can see, very bright."
 
The Junior Cup will be back in two months -- a Junior Shotung Cup will take place from August 21 to August 30 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
 
To check out all the results from the Suhl Junior Cup, click here.
 
To download editorial photos of the event, click here.