An unbelievable finale delivered Croatia their first title at the ISSF Junior World Championship in Suhl (GER), where 20-year-old Miran Maricic overtook People’s Republic of China’s Liu Yukun (20) at the last shot, turning a 0.8-point disadvantage into a 0.1 winning gap.
It’s the first career Gold medal for the young Croatian, who fired 18 of his 24 shots into the 10th ring, finishing with 246.6 points and the Gold medal around his neck.
“I struggled a little bit during the qualifications,” said Maricic. “But I managed to keep the focus and made it into the final, it made me very happy and I really wanted to give my best… And now here I am!”
“The goal now is already set on the Olympics, I want to qualify for Tokyo 2020 and enjoy the shooting,” he added, then concluding: “It was my brother who introduced me to this sport, but he’s not even a shooter, he’s a guitar player!”
Liu, who won this event’s senior Gold at the 2016 Asian Championship in Tehran (IRI), closed the match with 246.5 points, securing his third international medal this season alone: during the 2017 ISSF World Cup Series, in fact, he won a Rifle Prone Silver in New Delhi (IND) and a 3 Positions Bronze in Munich (GER).
The third step of the podium was taken by Maricic’s teammate Borna Petanjek, 9th at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing (CHN) and 3rd today, scoring 225.8 points and pocketing his second international Bronze medal as a junior shooter.
Japan’s 18-year-old Atsushi Shimada, currently raked 14th in the world and World Cup Bronze medalist this year in New Delhi (IND), finished in 4th position with 205.4 points, missing the podium by just 0.4 points.
India’s Arjun Babuta (18), Bronze medalist at last year’s Junior World Cup in Gabala (AZE), took 5th place with 184.2 points, while the current number 16 in the World Ranking, Hungary’s Istvan Peni, slid down from 1st to 6th place after a bad 9.3-9.8 combination in the fourth series, leaving the final two shots later and placing 6th with 163.1 points.
In his second international competition, Russian Federation’s 19-year-old Ilia Marsov failed to best the 6th place he obtained at the 2017 European Championship, concluding in 7th position with 141.9 points.
He was followed by first-time participant Yoon Hyun of the Republic of Korea, who left the match after shot number 12, taking 8th place with 120.6 points.
Live results of the competitions, news and updates will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.