Cao Lijia of the People’s Republic of China claimed the gold medal at today’s 25m Pistol Women Junior event, during day-4 of the 2017 ISSF Junior World Championship in Suhl, Germany.
The 19-year old shooter overtook Bulgaria’s Miroslava Mincheva with a perfect 5-hit last series to finish atop of the podium with a total of 36.
17-year old Mincheva, who led the match from the 6th to the 9th series, lost her chances as she closed the match with a disappointing 2-hits last series, finishing in second with 35 hits.
No surprises tough. Cao was indeed one of the most experienced shooters of the pack, today, having already competed in five ISSF World Cups and a World Cup Final between 2015 and 2016.
In 2015, when she was only 17, the Chinese athlete won gold at the ISSF World Cup in Gabala, gaining a qualification slot for that year’s ISSF World Cup Final, where she claimed bronze behind the 2014 World Champion Zhang (CHN) and the 2008 Olympic silver medalist Otryad (MGL).
Today she was joined on the podium by her 19-year old teammate Chen Yan, who was in joint lead with Mincheva after the 6th series, but then shot three 3-hit series in a row sliding down in third place collecting the Bronze with a total of 29 hits.
India’s Muskan Muskan, 16, took the 4th place with 24 hits, ahead of Hungary’s 20-year old Veronika Major - a 3-time 10m Running Target junior world champion that started shooting pistol this year - who closed the match in 5th with 18 hits.
Rio 2016 Olympian and 2014 Junior World Champion Mathilde Lamolle of France, 20, one of the favorites before the match, followed them in 6th place with 15 hits, after surviving a shoot-off against the third Chinese finalist Zhou Ying, 7th with 14 hits. The 2015 Asian Champion Hanieyeh Rostamiyan of Iran, 18, finished in 8th place with 10 hits.
The 25m Pistol Junior Women Final closed the official program of the first-ever ISSF Junior World Championship.
The People’s Republic of China finished atop of the overall medal standings, winning a stunning total of 21 medals, including 11 individual medals (6 G, 2 S, 1B) and 8 team medals (4 G, 2 S, 2 B).
India followed in second with 2 individual gold and 1 individual silver, as well as 4 team medals (1 G, 1 S, 3 B), while Ukraine ranked third with 3 individual medals (2 G, 1 S, 1 B) and 2 team medals (1 G, 1 S).
Tomorrow, June 28, junior athletes from all over the world will get a chance to test the new 10m Air Rifle and 10m Air Pistol Mixed events that have recently been included in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Program.
Medal standings, after 13 out of 13 events
| Rank | Nation | Individual | Team | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | ||
| 1 | CHN |
5 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 21 |
| 2 | IND |
2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | |
| 3 | UKR |
2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | |
| 4 | RUS |
2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 5 | HUN |
2 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| 6 | KOR |
1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 7 | CRO |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 7 | NOR |
2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |||
| 9 | CZE |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| 10 | FIN |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| 11 | AUT |
1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 11 | JPN |
1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 13 | GER |
2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | ||||
| 14 | USA |
2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||||
| 15 | BUL |
1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 15 | PRK |
1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 15 | ROU |
1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 15 | SGP |
1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 15 | THA |
1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 20 | ITA |
2 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| 21 | FRA |
1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 26 | 26 | 26 | 78 | ||