After Yukie Nakayama collected the Trap Women Gold medal yesterday, things got even better for Japan in Day 2 of the Asia Olympic Qualifying Competition for Shooting in New Delhi (IND), as Teruyoshi Akiyama and Eita Mori finished 1st and 3rd in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men event, also pocketing the two Olympic slots available for Rio 2016.
Akiyama managed to distance himself from the Silver medallist, South Korea’s Choi Yong Hoo, only after the very last series, when the Japanese shooter sealed the win with a perfect 5-hits series, concluding with 28 hits against Choi 25.
Mori, instead, after matching his two rivals’ scores at 16 after the fifth series, progressively lost contact, finishing 3rd with 20 hits.
“I’m happy for me and I’m happy for my teammate. We are going to the Olympic Games!” Said Akiyama just before the medal ceremony. “We train together in Japan so to win the quota with him is amazing.”
As the Korean shooter was not eligible for the Olympic slots, both of them were automatically assigned after Qatar’s Oleg Engachev was eliminated with 16 hits and finished 4th, allowing the many Japanese fans in the Finals Hall to celebrate a bit earlier.
Hometown favorite, India's Vijay Kumar, concluded 5th recording 14 hits after a disappointing 1-out-of-5 series, while in 6th place finished the second Korean finalist Lee Young Hoon with 12 hits.
The competition will continue this afternoon with the Trap Men final, scheduled at 3:15 PM (UTC+5:30).
Live updates will be available online on the ISSF website and on the ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Sina Weibo.