The second final contested at the ISSF World Cup Stage 1 in Guadalajara (MEX) went down to the very last shot.
The tight duel involving Romania’s Laura-Georgeta Coman and People’s Republic of China’s Xu Hong finally crowned the 24-year-old born in Bucarest, who secured the second Air rifle gold of her World Cup career.
Despite leading for most of the final, Coman failed to build a comfortable gap between her and her rivals, but after missing the 10th ring for the first time with her 23rd shot, she sealed the victory with a great 10.5, finishing with 251.5 points.
“It feels like a magic moment for me,” said Coman at the end of the medal ceremony. “Even though I try to approach every competition in the same way, and not let these victories distract me.”
“This is medal is for my family, my coach and all my friends!”
0.5 points behind Coman placed People’s Republic of China’s 19-year-old Xu Hong, who scored 251.0 points and took Silver in her first World Cup start.
Making her World Cup debut in Guadalajara, 17-year-old Mehuli Ghosh of India took bronze with 228.4 points, adding it to the junior continental title she won at last year’s Asian Championship in Wako City (JPN). Her teammate Anjum Moudgil (24) finished in 4th position with 208.6 points.
Two more Chinese athletes finished in 5th and 6th position: 21-year-old Sun Ting and 29-year-old Zhao Huixin respectively finished with 186.4 and 164.6 points, with Sun also setting a new Qualification World Record with 629.5 points.
Sun was followed by India’s third finalist Apurvi Chandela (25) — World Cup bronze medalist in this event in Changwon (KOR) three years ago — who concluded in 7th place with 144.1 points, while Slovenian shooter Ziva Dvorsak (26) placed at the bottom of the table, finishing in 8th position with 121.2 points.
Medal standings after 2 out of 15 events
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IND |
1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 2 | ROU |
1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | CHN |
1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | GER |
1 | 1 | ||
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
The ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara (MEX) will continue tomorrow with two more finals: the 10m Air Rifle Men, scheduled at 12:30 pm (UTC+6:00), and the 10m Air Pistol Women, starting at 1:45 pm.
The 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.