Boosted by his victory in the Free Pistol event, Matsuda won the 10m Air Pistol final, securing his second gold medal in this championship.
Matsuda Tomoyuki won his second consecutive title at the ISSF World Championship in all shooting events, securing today’s 10m Air Pistol Men Gold medal just 48 hours after winning the brightest medal and an Olympic pass at the 50m Pistol Men final.
After qualifying for the medal match with 586 points, Matsuda shot a great average throughout the ten-shot final, duelling neck and neck against Korea’s 2008 Olympic Silver medallist Jin Jong Oh and Serbia’s Andrija Zlatic. The 34-year old Japanese shooter from Yokhoama climbed from the fourth position he had on the start list after the qualifications thanks to the best final score, 103.4 points, eventually finishing in first place with a total of 689.4 points.
Matsuda, who was ranked 60th in the World in this event, was not enlisted between the favourites. Probably boosted by his victory in the 50m Pistol competition, the Japanese athlete scored his best result ever, today, renewing his wishes for the 2012 Olympic Games: “I want to fulfil my Olympic dream, now!”
Serbia’s Zlatic eventually finished in second place with a total score of 689.2 (590+99.2) points, grabbing the second ISSF World Championship Silver medal of his career (he had already finished on the podium at the 2002 Championship held in Lahti, Finland).
The third contender, Korea’s Olympic multi-medallist Jin Jong Oh, a world record holder who was rated between those favourite to finish on the podium, finished in third place, securing the Bronze medal and a Quota Place (a 2012 Olympic pass) just one tenth behind Zlatic with 689.1 (587+102.1) points. The 30-year old Olympic Champion of Beijing 2008 became therefore the second Korean athlete to qualify for the London 2012 Games, after his 21-year teammate Lee Daemyung who secured the first Quota two days ago by finishing on the 50m Pistol’s podium.
Six Olympic Quota Places for the 2012 Games were distributed in this final match. Matsuda and Zlatic had already won a Quota at the 50m Pistol Men Final, and they were not eligible to win a second one, therefore all the other finalists obtained a Quota pass. Next to Jin Jong Oh, an Olympic qualification card was granted to Sergey Chervyakovskiy of Russia (fourth with 685.5 points), to Yusuf Dikec of Turkey (fifth with 681.4+9.8 points), to Portugal’s Joao Costa (sixth with 681.4+9.7 points), to Ukrain’s Ivan Bidnyak (seventh with 681.3 points) and to Damir Mikec, from Serbia, eighth with 678.7 points.