Tight Competition in Junior Events leads to Interesting Results

The day’s junior competition remained tight--so close that the winners were once again determined by the amount of center hits instead of points.  In 50m Rifle Prone Men Junior event, the athletes on the podium all posted the same score of 395 points.  Yet, Jianing Wu (China) brought home a lustrous gold with a strong 40 center hits.  Leor Ovadia Madlal of Israel was the silver medalist with 38 center hits.  Sebastian Drawert, a local German shooter, came up just shy with 33 bulls-eyes.  In a field of seventy athletes, those three were on target.

In the 10m Air Rifle Women Junior event, the east--Thailand, Korea, and China--dominated.  With eager cheers from teammates and fans, Thailand’s Manchulika Manakit graciously accepted the gold medal.  Manakit nailed 397 points with a total of 34 center hits in her match.  Korea’s Eunjeong Bae was three shy--bulls-eyes that is--with 397 points and 31 center hits.  Finally Lijie Dong won the bronze medal with 396 points and 33 center hits.  She tied Slovakia’s Jana Hyblerova in points and center hits, yet claimed the bronze as Dong’s last two series were strong 100s and Hyblerova had a 99 and 100--a tough break for Hyblerova. 

The future of the shooting sports is a bright one with talents athletes such as those listed above and many of the others competing.  The only disappointing part of the World Shooting Championship junior events is the lack of a final.  In a field as close as 50m Rifle Prone Men Junior or 10m Air Rifle Women Junior, shooting in the final would undoubtedly be interesting and help determine a clear winner without alternate criteria such as center hits or series scores.