Day-5 of the 2014 ISSF World Cup in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events was opened by the 50m Rifle Prone Men final, held at the final hall of the 1972 Olympic Shooting Range of Munich, Germany.
People's Republic of China's Zhao Shengbo surprised everybody by winning the match at his first try. The 32-year old shooter had indeed never made it to an ISSF final match before, but he did not hesitate today, beating his expert teammate, the Silver medal winner of this year's ISSF world cup in Fort Benning, Liu Gang.
Zhao scored 208.9 points, climbing atop of the podium with 0.4 points of advantage on Liu Gang, who placed in second pocketing his second silver medal of the season with a final score of 208.5 points.
The 2013 “Shooter of the Year” Henri Junghaenel (26), shooting on his home turf, fought for the medals against the leading Chinese duo right to the end. But the sharp shots of Zhao and Liu turned out to be unbeatable today. Junghaenel, a world record holder currently ranked first in the world in this event, had won the first world cup match of the season in Fort Benning. Today, he climbed upon the third step of the podium, with 187.6 points.
The 2004 Olympic Champion Matthew Emmons of the United States of America (33) finished out of the podium by 0.5 points, a small though fatal gap from Germany's Junghaenel after the 16th final shot. The American champion – competing in his 14th ISSF world cup final match in this event - closed the round in fourth place with a total score of 165.8 points.
The Norwegian finalist Odd Arne Brekne (29), concluded his final at shot 14, placing in fifth with 145.0 points. Behind him, Beijing's Olympic Bronze medallist Warren Potent (52), from Australia, closed his 14th final in career in sixth with 123.9 points, followed by today's youngest finalist, the second Norwegian finalist Ole Kristian Bryhn (25) who ended up in seventh place with 102.4 points. 31-year old Steffen Olsen from Denmark was the first to leave the final match, being eliminated after the eighth shot with a final score of 80.5 points.
The ISSF World Cup in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events continues, check out the schedule, the latest results, photos, videos and stories at www.issf-sports.org