Zhang Bowen of China won the first gold at the ISSF World Championships in Baku as he earned the men’s world 10m air pistol title with a score of 244.3 points.
The 27-year-old from Bhinzou, who had earned 50m silver at the previous year’s World Championships in Cairo, finished ahead of Serbia’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist Damir Mikec, who totalled 240.8 points.
Bronze went to Kiril Kirov of Bulgaria on 215.7
Zhang and Kirov also clinched a quota place for the Paris 2024 Olympics along with Robin Walter of Germany and Jason Solari of Switzerland.
"I am very happy to get the quota place,” Zhang said. “I had a responsibility to get it for the country.
"I still have to work hard for the team and do my best in the competition,
Reflecting upon his close-fought contest with Mikec, Zhang added: "In a shooting competition you always need beat yourself so I tried to focus on myself so I wasn't afraid of any other competitor."
Mikec was one of six different athletes to win a World Cup title in this discipline during the course of the season, coming out on top at the event held in the Peruvian capital of Lima in April.
Mukhammad Kamalov of Uzbekistan won at the opening World Cup in Jakarta, followed by Juraj Tuzinsky of Slovakia in Cairo, Sarabjot Singh of India in Bhopal, Mikec in Lima, Iran’s Sajjad Pourhosseini in Baku and Federico Maldini of Italy in Rio de Janeiro.
In the Doha World Cup final last month Maldini’s 25-year-old compatriot Paolo Monna, the world No.3, pushed hard to earn gold but eventually had to give best to Germany’s 24-year-old European Games champion Robin Walter.
Walter, who added European Championship silver this year to the gold he won in 2022, secured his place atop another podium after a qualifying competition from which all three of the World Championship medallists failed to emerge.
World-ranked sixth, the young German began the final nervously with an opening score of 9.2 but grew in composure, earning gold with 243.3 points, with Monna second on 240.0.
Latvia’s Emils Vasermanis earned bronze.
“I am very happy, but a little bit tired,” Walter told ISSF TV with a faint smile. “The competition in the morning was very early. But this is a really good moment for me.
"Now I will take a little bit of time to relax, and next year will be the European Championships – and then maybe Paris!”
Monna, whose team-mate Maldini finished fifth, echoed Walter’s aspirations for next year. “I am very happy for this silver,” he said. “The goal now is Paris 2024.”