ISSF

Published on 05 Nov 2008

10m Air Rifle Women - Wu Liuxi grabbed gold at last shot

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Marco Dalla Dea

WU Liuxi of China grabbed the 10m Air Rifle Women Gold, overtaking at the last shot the Russian Olympic Silver medallist GALKINA, who finished in second in spite of scoring a world record qualification. The four-time title winner DU Li of China was awarded the Bronze medal.

The 23-year old Chinese shooter WU Liuxi won today’s 10m Air Rifle Women event at the ISSF World Cup Final of Bangkok. WU, who had qualified for this year’s World Cup Final by winning Silver at the World Cup stage of Milan, finished in first place winning Gold with 502.1 points after overtaking the qualification’s leader GALKINA at the last shot.

The two times Olympic Silver medallist of Athens and Beijing Lioubov GALKINA of Russia finished in second place winning Silver with 501.9 points. The Russian shooter had entered the final match with an equalled world record of 400 points, but then she fired the lowest final score (101.9 points) loosing her two-points advantage on WU.

The 2004 Olympic Champion DU Li finished in third place, winning Bronze with 501.1 points. DU had won all the four World Cup Final editions from to 2004 on, and arrived here in Bangkok as the title defender. The Chinese athlete gave her best during the final, scoring the highest score of the final (105.1 points), but she could not make it to the highest step of the podium due to her lower qualification score of 396 points.

DU did not meet here in Beijing her first opponent, the Czech shooter Katerina EMMONS, the Olympic Champion of Beijing that duelled with her on the lines of the most important international competitions throughout the last four years. EMMONS did not take part in this competition “She preferred to to rest, after the Games. – said her husband, the American shooter Matthew Emmons – she is pregnant since four months!”

The Olympic Bronze medallist of Beijing, the 26-year old Snjezana PEJCIC of Croatia, closed the match in fourth place, with a score of 500.6 points, preceding the German champion Sonja PFEILSCHIFTER, who closed today’s competition in fifth with 500.5 points.