China’s 34-year-old Li Yuehong, who set a world record of 39 points in winning the world title in Baku last year, and his team-mate Wang Xinjie, who earned silver in one of the finals held at the Baku World Cup, qualified first and second for tomorrow’s 25m rapid-fire pistol final.
But there was disappointment for France as neither Clement Bessaguet, who has won silver at the last two World Championships, nor their defending champion and Rio 2016 silver medallist Jean Quiquampoix made the top six qualifiers.
Bessaguet, the ISSF Male Athlete of the Year for 2023, missed out by one place through a tie-breaker, while Quiquampoix was 22nd.
The two Chinese athletes will be joined by Ukraine’s Pavlo Korostylov, the Republic of Korea’s Cho Yeongjae, Massimo Spinella of Italy and Germany’s World Cup Final gold medallist Florian Peter.
India’s Vijayeer Sidhu finished ninth, one place above Kazakhstan’s Asian champion Nikita Chiryukin.