He was the favorite, and he did not delude the expectation of the shooting sport fans. Yang Haoran, 18, from the People's Republic of China, won the first Gold medal of the 51st ISSF World Championship in all Shooting events in Granada, Spain, claiming the world champion title at today's 10m Air Rifle Men final.
Next to the Gold medal, he pocketed one of the six Olympic Quota places – the entry ticket to Rio 2016 – up for grabs at today's final.
“This is my Golden cake!” Yang said. “Today, in China, we celebrate the mid-autumn fest. That's a traditional occasion for family reunions, and we use to share the so-called moon cakes. Well... I am not in China, I won't get a moon cake today. So I want to share this victory with my parents. This medal is a golden cake for them.”
Ranked second in the world, Yang Haoran, arrived here in Granada after a huge victory at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, in front of his supporters.
Here in Granada, he qualified for the the final match in the best way, by setting a new Junior World Record of 632.1 points.
After a slow start in the final, he climbed up the scoreboard eventually overtaking Nazar Louginets, 25, of the Russian Federation after the 12th shot. From there on, he took-off, nailing a series of exceptional shots that lifted him upon the highest step of the podium with 207.9 points and 1.9 points of advantage on his Russian opponents.
“The World Championship is a huge competition. The best shooters of the world are here. I felt the pressure of the match at the beginning of the final, but then I zeroed in and I was able to climb up on top.” Yang said.
“I am honored that I claimed the first Olympic quota for my country.” He commented about winning a Quota place for Rio 2016.
One of the protagonists of this year's ISSF World Cup Series, Nazar Louginets, 25, ranked first in the world in this event, placed in second, claiming the Silver medal with 206.0 points, today.
“I started off in the best way, but then I made a mistake. I fired a 9.1, and that compromised my final.” The Russian shooter said.
This year, Louginets made it to three different ISSF World Cup final matches - winning two Gold medals (in Beijing and Fort Benning) - and finished in the spotlights at the European Championship in Moscow, where he claimed Bronze.
“It has been a good year for me, nevertheless I feel sorry for today's final. I wanted to win it, but I made a mistake, and there's no room for mistakes at this level.” He said.
“I won a Quota place, that's true, but this is just the beginning of the path leading to Rio 2016. I will try to qualify for the other two Olympic rifle disciplines, I will give my best.” Louginets concluded.
Today's Bronze medal went to Vitali Bubnovic, 39, from Belarus, a three-time Olympian (2004, 2008, 2012), who confirmed to be one of the best rifle shooters of the world by finishing upon today's podium with 184.9 points.
The top-6 athletes out of the 8 finalists were awarded an Olympic Quota place. Following Yang, Louginets and Bubnovic, three quotas went to Russia's Sergey Kruglov, 29 (fourth with 163.7 points), to the 2006 Junior World Championship bronze medallist Cao Yifei, 26, from the People's Republic of China (fifth with 143.8 points) and to France's 25-year old Jeremy Monnier (sixth with 121.7 points).
Teams – The People's Republic of China starts on top
The 10m Air Rifle Men team Gold went to the People's Republic of China, thanks to the title winner Yang Haoran and to his teammates Liu Tanyou and Cao Yifei, who set a new world record score of 1886.5 points.
Louginets, Kruglov and their teammate Denis Sokolov brought the Russian Federation upon the second step of the podium with a combined score of 1880.5 points, leaving Belarus (Bubnovic, Chareika and Shcherbatsevich) in third place with 1874.0 points.
Over 2000 athletes coming from 94 countries are participating in the 51st ISSF World Championship. 64 Olympic quota places are up for grabs during the championship.
The next medals will be assigned tomorrow, at the 50m Pistol Men Junior final taking place at 12.00.
Follow the match live on www.issf-sports.org