Absolutely dominant. There’s no other way to describe Andrea Arsovic’s performance in the women’s 10m Air Rifle final at the ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi (IND).
The Serbian 30-year-old led the match since the very first series, when she scored 52.7 points, took the top position and never looked back, nailing an unbelievable series of 23 consecutive shots inside the 10th ring, and only missing it with the last one.
“I was a bit nervous because I knew that I was close to the World Record,” Arsovic said. “So that 9.7 is a bit disappointing for me.”
“It feels great anyway, it’s the second time in a row that I win this trophy and I couldn’t be happier,” she continued. “Now I’ll take a quick break, maybe for a short holiday. Next year will be very intense, there will be a lot of competition and everyone’s focus is on the ISSF World Championship.”
“I think my experience played some role in the match,” concluded Arsovic, who was the only 30-something shooter on the firing line.
Despite placing 8th at the end of the first 5-shot series, 24-year-old Romanian shooter Laura-Georgeta Coman climbed back up to the 2nd place, where she finished with 249.7 points and collected the first World Cup Final medal of her career.
Alongside Arsovic and Coman, the podium was completed by People’s Republic of China’s 20-year-old Peng Xinyi, who secured the Bronze medal in her first World Cup Final participation. Peng final score was 228.5 points, while her teammate Shi Mengyao (19) finished with 186.0, failing to add another achievement to the World Cup Gold and Silver she won this year.
Just outside of the podium, Norway’s Malin Westerheim (23) sealed her debut in this competition with 207.4 points, taking 4th place.
After surviving a shoot-off against Singapore’s Jasmine Ser Xiang Wei, Sadeghian Armina of the Islamic Republic of Iran finished in 6th place, after losing another tie-breaking shoo-off against Westerheim. In her first World Cup Final participation and competing as the youngest participant of the final, 15-year-old Armina scored 165.3 points, while 27-year-old Ser took 7th place with 144.3.
The current leader of the world ranking and Rio 2016 Olympic Champion, 20-year-old Virginia Thrasher of the United States of America, finished in 8th position and scored 122.4 points.
The ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi (IND) will continue this afternoon with the Skeet Men final, scheduled at 4:00 pm.
All finals will be streamed live on the ISSF website, on the Federation’s Livestream channel, on its official Facebook page and on the Olympic Channel.
Live results of the competition, 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.