Beijing’s Olympic Silver medallist ZHU Quinan of China won the very first gold medal of the 2009 ISSF World Cup Series, by finishing in first at the 10m Air Rifle Men event with a total of 700.3 points on the shooting lines of Changwon, Korea.
ZHU, 24-year old, first in the world rank, entered the final match with one point of advantage on his followers thanks to a successful qualification of 597 points, and led the round from the first to the last shot. By winning gold, the unbeatable Chinese shooter secured his leadership in the world ranking, and reached his 8th individual gold medal in world cup events since 2004.
Silver went to the second Chinese finalist, 20-year old CAO Yifei, who impressed the spectators with an outstanding final round, where he climbed from the sixth to the second place by firing extreme shots. He placed on the second step of the podium with a total of 698.6 points winning Silver, the second medal of his young international career (he had placed in second also at last year’s world cup in Milan).
“To start a new Olympic cycle on the podium is not that bad. I am always happy to get a medal!” said the current world record holder, the 25-year old Indian shooter Gagan NARANG, who had closed the 2008 season by setting a new final world record at the ISSF World Cup Final of Bangkok. “Scores are not that high, none of us excelled in today’s final, clearly because we are at the beginning of the season. It takes time to get the best preparation” Continued the Indian champion “I struggled a little bit during the qualifications, and I am even not so happy about the final… but I got on the podium, that’s no so bad!” concluded NARANG, who shot a final of 102.7 points, climbing form the eighth place, ending up on the podium with a total score of 696.7 points.
To get in third place, NARANG had to duel against the first time finalist Matthew RAWLINGS, 24-year old, form the United States of America. The two shooters fought neck and neck right to the last shot, when RAWLINGS fell by firing a disappointing 9.3 shot that pushed him outside of the podium “I have been looking to get in a final for a while, so it was great to be here today. This is a starting point, we’ll see in the future.” said Matthew after the final match, who landed in fourth place with a total score of 696.6 points, just one tenth behind NARANG
“Great that we had RAWLING in the final round” commented the USA coach David JOHNSON, right after the match “He is a young shooter, and this was one of his first World Cup experiences. We are now looking forward to lady’s competitions. We brought young shooters here in Changwon, but most of our veterans will come to compete at the World Cup in Munich.”
The next final round is scheduled for tomorrow morning, at 12.00 Seoul time (UTC/GMT + 9), when the 10m air rifle women will be conducted. Later on, tomorrow afternoon, the 50m Pistol Men and the 25m Pistol Women finals will take place.
Published on 10 Apr 2009
10m Air Rifle Men - ZHU shot 2009’s first Gold medal
Marco Dalla Dea
#1 Air Rifle shooter in the world, ZHU Quinan of China, started the new Olympic cycle on the lead, by winning the 10m air rifle men event at the first ISSF World Cup stage in Changwon, Korea. The Chinese shooter was joined on the podium by his young teammate CAO, and by the world record holder NARANG of India, author of a terrific come-back from the eight place.
