The last competition day at the ISSF Rifle & Pistol World Cup in Munich was opened by the 10m Air Pistol Women event, which turned out to be an ecxciting final and a stage of success for the reigning World Champion Serbia’s Zorana Arunovic.
Zorana Arunovic, a 25-year old athlete ranked seventh in the world in this event, knows Munich’s lines very well: here she won the World Championship title, back in 2010, and then a World Cup Silver medal, last year. And she proved it today, ruling the 10m Air Rifle Women event, shooting consistently from the first to the last shot. After walking into the match with a qualification score of 389 points, she shot a great final, scoring 101.7 points and winning the brightest medal with an overall score of 490.7 points. And it was her first ISSF World Cup Medal: the champion had indeed never won a world cup stage, before.
In spite of finishing up with a frustrating 9.1-point shot, the Serbian shooter ended up her match with an outstanding advantage of 5.0 points over today’s Silver medallist, Thailand’s Tanyaporn Prucksakorn, in a an event where advantages are normally counted on the decimals scale.
“I have been saved by Munich!” The young Serbian winner said right after the final “I had some issues in Milan and London, so this Munich’s result is helping me with my self confidence, while going into the Olympic Games.”
“To finish with 5 points of advantage is unusual, but I am doing good in finals. I would say that 70% of my medals were built up in finals, more than in qualification.” Arunovic commented on her extraordinary final match.
“Air Pistol is my strong event. I am training in Sport Pistol as well, but I think it takes more time to get at the top, in the 25m Pistol Women event. But at the Olympic Games, in participating in both the matches.”
Thailand’s 2008 Olympic finalist, Prucksakorn, started of her match from the second place on the start-list after the qualifications, with a score of 387 points. Then, the 22-year old Thai shooter lost tenths shot after shot from Arunovic, trying at the same time to defend her second place.
After shooting 98.7 points in the final, Prucksakorn eventually closed the match in second, with a n overall score of 485.7 points, securing her first ISSF World Cup medal in this event.
Behind her, the two-time Olympic Champion, and three-time Olympic Bronze medallist in this event, Bulgaria’s 3-year old finalist Maria Grozdeva, placed in third securing today’s Bronze medal. The Bulgarian champion shot 386 points during today’s qualification rounds, and then cruised through the final by scoring 98.4 points, to finish on the podium with an overall score of 484.4 points. A great personal result for Grozdeva, who had pocketed her last meal in this event back in 2006. And enough to beat the 2010 Youth Olympic Games champion Kim Jang Mi of Korea, 19, who placed in fourth with 484.0 points. The young Korean shooter finished in the spotlights once again, climbing up from the sixth place, and fighting right to the last shot to find a spot on the podium. Kim – who’s qualified for this year’s Olympics – had won the 25m Pistol Women event and then finished seventh at the 10m Air Rifle Women final at the pre-Olympic World Cup in London, earlier this year, writing her name in the “Olympic favourites” list.
Beijing’s Olympics finalist Viktoria Chaika of Belarus, a 31-year old shooter ranked 8th in the world in this event, who finished in seventh place with an overall score of 482.1 points. After qualifying with 386 points, tied to Grodzeva, she nailed a series of good tens climbing up to the medal positions, before shooting an 8.5 and a 7.7 that dragged her down in the placements, behind Serbia’s Bobaba Velickovic (fifth with 483.5 points) and Australia’s 48-year old finalist Lalita Yauhleskaya (sixth with 483.3 points). India’s 22-year old finalist Heena Sindhu closed the match in eighth and last place, with a total score of 481.7 points.