China's Chen and Yi pocket women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions gold and silver in Gabala

Day-6 of the ISSF Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun World Cup in Gabala, Azerbaijan, was opened by another success of the Chinese team, as it placed two athletes upon the women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions final.

 

Chen Dongqi (26), a two-time world cup bronze medallist, secured the gold medal at the end of a great final. The Chinese athlete finished the kneeling series in the lead with 152.9 points, and continued shooting solidly through the prone series, keeping the lead with 308.4 points. Holding on the first place through the standing series, she won the match with 456.2 points, and 0.8 points of advantage on her teammate Yi Siling (26).

 

Yi, the 2012 air rifle Olympic Champion, took silver with 455.4 points, pocketing her second world cup medal of the season in this event, after the bronze she had collected in Munich, earlier this year.

 

The People's Republic of China is now atop of the intermediate medal standings, when 10 out of 15 events has been conducted, with 5 golds, 3 silvers and 1 bronze, followed by USA with 2 golds and 2 silvers.

“I was feeling nervous during the competition, but I tried to calm down by telling myself that I could make it. And luckily it went that way.” Chen said, wearing the gold medal.

 

“This is my first world cup gold, I am super-excited!”

 

“I am very happy now, even if I was a bit stressed during the match, I felt really great in the days leading to this world cup stage. Today's result proves that we have been working in the right direction to prepare the competition, and I would like to thank my team and my coach.” Chen added.

 

24-year old Anna Zhukova of the Russian Federation followed the two Chinese shooters, claiming bronze with 444.8 points. She had already finished in the spotlights three days ago, at the women's 10m Air Rifle final, as she placed in fourth winning an Olympic quota spot for her country.

 

The two Rio 2016 Olympic quotas up for grabs at today's final went to Poland's Sylwia Bogacka (33) and to Switzerland's Jasmin Mischler (23).

 

Bogacka – an experienced three-time Olympian – started-off the competition by scoring an equalled world record of 592 points during the qualifications. Then, as the final started, she completed the kneeling series in second place with 151.2 points, but then slid down in the placements throughout the prone and standing series, eventually taking sixth place with 411.6 points.

 

Mischler - a 2010 Youth Olympic Games bronze medallist – pocketed the second quota spot by finishing in seventh with 400.0 points.

 

London's Olympic bronze medallist Adela Sykorova (28), currently ranked 15th in the world in this event, followed the medallists in fourth place with 434.5 points, finishing just 0.1 points far from the podium as she was eliminated after the 43rd final shot. USA's Sarah Beard (24), competing in her first world cup final match in this event, shot an excellent kneeling series, finishing in third with 150.9 points. During the prone series, she climbed the scoreboard up to the second place, with 306.2 points, but then fell at the standing series, landing in fifth place with a final score of 423.7 points. Austria's first-time finalist Franziska Peer (28) was the first athletes to leave the elimination-style medal match, placing in eighth with 399.6 points.

 

Stay tuned on www.issf-sports.org for the second final of the day, the men's 10m Air Pistol, taking place at 15.30 (GMR+5). The medal match will be broadcasted live on the ISSF website.