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E-mail Xinhua, June 11, 2024
China claimed four gold medals to top the tally at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup for rifle and pistol in Munich, Germany that concluded on Friday.
Sheng Lihao, with a world-record-breaking performance, and Huang Yuting triumphed in the men's and women's 10m air rifle individual events respectively before pairing up for the mixed team victory later on Monday.
Olympic silver medalist Sheng led the qualification with an impressive 635.4 points, and carried on the momentum for an early lead after the first competition stage of 10 shots in the final. A 10.9 and 10.8 in the fifth series during the elimination stage put the 19-year-old in a competition of his own with a 2.6-point lead over second-placed Patrik Jany of Slovakia.
The gap was further widened as Sheng took back the world record under his name with 254.5 points, an average of 10.6 per shot. The result lifted the bar 0.7 points higher than the previous record set in January by Divyansh Singh Panwar of India, who shattered Sheng's record at the Hangzhou Asian Games in September 2023.
European champion Jany claimed the silver medal with 251.3 points, and Martin Strempfl of Austria came third for his first individual World Cup medal. Sheng's teammate Du Linshu finished in a disappointing eighth place.
In the women's event, Huang managed to edge Ban Hyo-jin of South Korea to second with 252.7 points against 252.6 through the last shot in a nerve-wrecking final. The 17-year-old was 0.5 points behind Ban before the last series, and cut the deficit to 0.3 with a 10.5. She then fired first for a 10.6, and enjoyed her moment of victory after Ban had a 10.2. Huang's teammate, world champion and world record holder Han Jiayu took the bronze medal, before adding a silver to her name in the 50m 3 positions event on Friday.
Sheng and Huang, reigning world champions, then combined to beat Norway's Jeanette Hegg Duestad and Jon-Hermann Hegg 16-4 in the mixed team event, winning the third gold medal for China in a day.
China's only other gold medal came on Wednesday when world champion Li Yuehong held on his nerve to fend off the challenge from Rio Olympic champion Christian Reitz of Germany for the men's 25m rapid fire pistol gold 32 to 28 hits.
"It was a very difficult competition, because it was so near to the Olympic Games. So for me it was very hard," said world record holder Li, who made the final with a last ticket after placing sixth in the qualification.
"At the beginning of the final it was not good for me as I missed two, and so I needed to change some things in order to shoot better. So I had to think hard about what to do."
In women's 10m air pistol, world champion Jiang Ranxin and her teammate Li Xue was bested by Serbian veteran Zorana Arunovic. Jiang then won her second silver in Munich with Xie Yu in mixed team later on Thursday following a 17-13 loss to Turkey's Sevval Tarhan and Yusuf Dikec.
With a total of four gold, four silver and three bronze medals, China sat on top of the medal table, followed by Norway, France, India, Britain, Serbia and Turkey with one gold each.
The Munich World Cup is the last international tournament for rifle and pistol before the Paris Olympic Games opens on July 26.
