World Champion Zhang Jingjing of China and Junior Wolrd Champion Jean Quiquampoix of France won the 25m Pistol Women and Rapid Fire Pistol Men finals at the ISSF World Cup Final in Munich, today.
The 2015 ISSF Rifle and Pistol Wolrd Cup Final, held in Munich (GER) from the 2nd through the 7th of September, continued today with the 25m Pistol Women and Rapid Fire Pistol Men finals.
The reigning world champion Zhang Jingjing of China (26) turned out to be unbeatable, at the 25m Pistol Women medal match. Zhang nailed the world cup title as she beat Mongolia’s Gundegmaa Otryad 7 to 3 points in the gold medal match, after they had finished the semi-final tied atop of the table with 17 hits. Otryad (37), ranked second in the world, secured silver as she did at last year’s ISSF World Cup Final in Gabala (AZE).
The Chinese athlete has now Rio 2016 in her sights, after winning all major shooting competitions in the last two years, from her first ISSF World Cup Final title in 2013, to the Asian Games and ISSF World Championship in 2014.
Cao Lija (18) joined her teammate Zhang on today’s podium, as she beat the third Chinese finalist Lin Yuemei (21) in the Bronze medal match with a sharp score of 8 to 0 points. Both Cao and Lin had made it into the medal match passing through a four-way shoot-off as they tied Bulgaria’s Antoaneta Boneva (fifth) and Germany’s Monika Karsch (sixth) with 15 hits at the end of the semi-final.
At the following 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men final, it was France’s 19-year old shooter Jean Quiquampoix who claimed the world cup title. The young athlete scored 32 hits, leaving Russia’s two-time Olympian and world record holder Leonid Ekimov (27) in second place with 31 hits.
The French athlete pocketed his first senior title after winning the 2014 Junior Wolrd Champion and the 2012 and 2015 Junior European Champion titles, and also set a new Junior final world record (junior records are recorded also in senior finals), shuttering the 31 hits record he had established at this year’s European Championship in Maribor (SLO).
The reigning world champion Kim Jun Hong of the Republic of Korea (24) took the Bronze with 27 hits, finishing ahead of Russia’s Alexei Klimov (40), fourth with 22 hits.
“I am extremely happy because it’s a very nice way to close my last junior season,” Quiquampoix said. “At the beginning of today’s match, it seemed to be easy. But as we went on shooting I could feel the pressure building up.”
“What’s my next goal? I want to win the Olympic Games.” Concluded Quiquampoix, who secured an Olympic quota at this year’s ISSF World Cup stage in Changwon (KOR).
The ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup Final sees the best 85 shooters of the world selected throughout this year’s ISSF World Cup Stages in Changwon (KOR), Fort Benning (USA), Munich (GER) and Gabala (AZE) competing against the reigning world champions and the title defenders for the ISSF World Cup titles.
The event will continue tomorrow with four medal events, the women’s and men’s 10m Air Pistol and Air Rifle finals, starting from 10:30 (GMT+2). All final matches will be broadcasted live on http://www.issf-sports.org
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