Published on 16 Apr 2016

Nine years later China’s Du Li is back on top of the Air Rifle World Cup podium

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Marco Vettoretti

The Chinese shooter prevailed over Russian Federation’s Daria Vdovina, who finished 2nd, grabbing her first World Cup medal, and Germany’s Selina Gschwandtner, 3rd.

The People’s Republic of China pocketed the first Gold medal of the ISSF World Cup in Rio de Janeiro (BRA), as Du Li claimed the top of the podium nine years after her last one in this event.

 

The Chinese 34-year-old shooter fought for the Gold medal with Russia’s Daria Vdovina and Germany’s Selina Gschwandtner, who both took the lead of the match along its first half. After the sixth series of final shots, anyway, Du distanced herself from her two rivals, finishing with 208.3 points.

 

Vdovina, 26, closed with 208.0 points, and reached the World Cup podium for the first time, as her previous best result in the ISSF World Cup was a 5th place in Fort Benning (USA) in 2013. Gschwandtner, 21, finished with 186.8, also claiming her first 10m Air Rifle Women medal after finishing on the 3 Positions podium at last year’s World Cup stage in Changwon (KOR).

 

4th with 164.6 points finished Mexico’s Goretti Alejandra Zumaya Flores, participating in her first World Cup final phase; while Iranian shooter Najmeh Khedmati placed 5th with 143.9.

 

Besides Vdovina and Gschwandtner, Du also battled with two of closest friend and teammates, Yi Siling, who finished 6th with 123.3 points, and Zhang Binbin, who led the qualification round, but only finished 7th with 101.9 points.

 

First to be eliminated from the final match, another German athlete, Nina Laura Kreutzer, with 81.2.

 

The ISSF World Cup stage in Rio de Janeiro will continue this afternoon with the Trap Women final, scheduled at 2:00 PM (UTC-3).

 

News and updates will be available on the ISSF official website and on its social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Weibo. While highlights of all the finals will be available on YouTube and Youku.