The two Chinese teammates Wu Liuxi and Chang Jing stood together atop of the 10m Air Rifle Women podium, today, at the 2013 ISSF World Cup in Rifle and Pistol events in Fort Benning, GA, USA.
Wuxi Liu, 28, ranked fourth in the world, qualified in third with 417.5 points a then shot today’s highest final score, 210.0 points, to win her second consecutive World Cup Gold of the season. The Chinese shooter had indeed led the 10m Air Rifle Women final at the first World Cup Stage of the year, in Changwon (KOR), last April.
Her 26-year old teammate Chang Jing – competing in her first ISSF World Cup Stage ever - pocketed the Silver medal with 207.7 points, after leading the qualification rounds with 418.1 points.
Today’s Bronze medal went to Petra Zublasing, an Italian shooter who feels at home in USA. The 23-year old Olympian studies indeed at the West Virginia University, and has been living in the US for almost one year now.
Shooting 418.1 points during the qualifications, Zublasing made it to the final in second place. The young shooter was not distracted by the new rules, that set the score back to zero at the beginning of the final, and made he way to the podium by scoring 185.6 points.
“It has been tough,” She said after the match. “With the new rules, the final is definitely challenging. I had to hang on until the end, to make it to the podium.”
“This was my last match as a student of the West Virginia University: I am done with my university courses here. I’ve a flight back to Italy booked on the 24th of May.”
Following Zublasing, it was Serbia’s Andrea Arsovic who placed in fourth, with 165.1 points, while the fifth place went to the Russian finalist Daria Vdovina, who scored 143.8 points. Germany’s first time finalist Maren Prediger finished in sixth today, with 123.5 points, while Croatia’s 2008 Olympic Bronze medallist Snjezana Pejcic closed the round in seventh with 102.0 points. Du Bei, the third Chinese finalist, competing in her first ISSF match today, was the first to leave the match, placing in eighth with 80.2 points.