The London 2012 Olympic Bronze medallist Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia won today’s 50m Rifle Prone Men event at the ISSF World Cup Final in Bangkok, Thailand.
The 49-year old champion, a three-time Olympic medallist, had never won a World Cup Final in this event, before
Qualified with a score of 596 points, tied to Switzerland’s Marcel Buerge in the lead, Debevec shot one of today’s highest finals (103.9 points), and ended up in first with an overall score of 699.9 points, beating his opponents on the last three shots.
Marcel Buerge (SUI), 40, finished in second place securing the Silver medal with an overall score of 699.1 points, after shooting-off France’s Valerian Sauveplane, today’s Bronze medallist, 10.6 to 10.4 points.
The Swiss finalist led the match right up to the eighth final shot, when he scored a frustrating 9.4-shot which pulled him down in second. Buerge, a three-time Olympian, had never finished on a World Cup Final podium, out of four participations.
France’s 32-year old flag bearer Valerian Sauveplane shot today’s highest score in the final, 104.1 points, but due to his lower qualification score (595 points) and to an unlucky 9.6 shot in the final, he did not make it to the highest step of the podium. With an overall score of 699.1 points, and a 10.4 in the shoot-off, he closed his match in third pocketing the Bronze medal.
Eric Uptagraff of USA placed out of the podium, with an overall score of 698.5 (595+103.5) points. He was followed by Cyril Graff of France, who placed in fifth with 697.9 (594+103.9) points, while Norway’s Stian Bogar closed the round in sixth with 697.7 (595+102.7) points.
The two shooters who had qualified in seventh and eighth place for the final, China’s Wang Weiyi and Korea’s Han Jinseop, closed the match in the same position, with a score of 697.0 and 695.1 points, respectively.
The 2012 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup Final in Bangkok, running from the 22nd through the 28th of October, will continue with two more finals, today. The 25m Pistol Women event and the 50m Pistol Men finals will take place this afternoon, at 1 and 2 PM Bangkok time.
Seven more medal matches, and the Champions Trophies, will follow in the next three days.
Follow the competition on www.issf-sports.org