Germany’s 21-year old first-time finalist Jolyn Beer secured an odd-defying victory against the world #1 Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia, at today’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women final at the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand.
In spite of her lack of experience, the young German shooter secured Gold with 455.9 points, leaving her Croatian opponent in second place with 454.5 points, 1.4 points behind her.
Beer finished the Kneeling section of the final in third place with 151.8 points, and then climbed up in second at the end of the Prone series with 307.1 points, eventually overtaking Pejcic in the last fraction of the match. She had never won an international competition, before, and she was not event listed in the ISSF World Ranking.
“It’s amazing, it’s my first world cup, and my first medal. I am speechless,” said Beer.
“I was quite confident, anyway. The Kneeling position is my weakest one. I told myself that if I managed do well there, I was going to finish in style. And that’s what happened.”
“The pressure kicked-in at the last shot. I really wanted to beat Snjezana and win the match, but I was afraid to fire a bad shot. I zeroed-in, focusing on the technique, and I made it!”
The 2015 “ISSF Shooter of the Year” Pejcic, 33, had closed the Kneeling and the Prone series in the lead with 154.7 and 308.1 points. Eventually, she took Silver with 454.5 points, scoring two 9.7 out of her last three shots.
She was followed by People’s Republic of China’s Zhang Binbin, an expert 10m Air Rifle shooter participating in her first 3 Positions final today. The 27-year old Chinese shooter jeopardized her chances to finish atop of the podium as she scored an 8.5 on her 44th shot, eventually claiming the Bronze with 444.0 points.
Earlier, today, the 10m Air Pistol Women final ended up in a tough duel between the two-time Olympic Champion Guo Wenjun, 31, from the People’s Republic of China, and the World Rank #11 Tien Chia Chen of Chinese Taipei, 32.
The two athletes moved atop of the table after the first shots, and then exchanged positions several times in first and second place, divided only by a few tenths of a point. When only two shots were left to be fired, Tien Chia Chen had a 0.6 lead over Guo, but she lost her chances as she scored a frustrating 8.3 on her last shot, leaving the Gold medal to her Chinese opponents.
Guo climbed atop of the podium with a final score of 198.8 points. Tien collected Silver with 197.8 points.
“I have learned how to manage the stress of such situations through the years,” said Guo.
“As I am preparing for my third Olympics, I am trying to improve these psychological aspects of the game. You need good technical and physical preparation to compete, but a strong mind can make the difference in the fight for the medals.”
Guo is indeed preparing for Rio 2016, where she is looking for her third title back-to-back, after winning the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
“I never look at my previous medals,” she said. And that applies also to today’s Gold. “Every time I win a medal, I save it a home, and never look back at it again. Every competition is a new start.”
Guo’s teammate Zhang Mengxue of the People’s Republic of China, 25, joined her on the podium, as she took home today’s Bronze medal with 177.8 points, collecting another positive result here in Bangkok after she made it to the final match at the 25m Pistol Women final, two days ago (when she placed 6th).
Following them, two Thai shooters – Klaisuban Pim On, 23, and Prucksakorn Tanyaporn, 26 – battled for a spot on the podium throughout the match. Receiving a huge support by the local spectators, they eventually closed the round in 4th and 5th places, with 156.4 and 136.1 points, respectively.
Today, the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand, will continue with one more medal match: the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men final is scheduled at 2.15 (UTC+7) and will be broadcasted live on http://www.issf-sports.org
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