The 24-year old Olympic Medallist of Beijing secured an Olympic Quota Place to participate in the next Games by outdoing India’s Kumar in a spinechilling duel for Gold.
The new exciting 25m Rapid Fire Pistol final was conducted today, at the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Fort Benning, GA, USA.
It was the German finalist Christian Reitz, 24, who won the match with an overall score of 29 hits. The Olympic Bronze medallist of Beijing 2008 finished on the highest step of the podium by passing through a breathtaking match, and only after outdoing India’s Vijay Kumar in a shoot-off for Gold by 4 to 1 hits.
Reitz, who had never won an ISSF World Cup medal with the new final format, also secured an Olympic Quota Place, a pass to the next 2012 Olympic Games in London.
"This is the first Quota for Germany in this even. An Olympic Quota and a Gold medal, what should I ask more!" The gold medal winner said, with a smile on his face.
"It has not been an easy final. It's very hot, here in Georgia, and the light conditions are a little bit complicate, in comparison with other world cups." The German shooter said.
"I have been working a lot to prepare for this competition, but this is just the first step. We will keep on competing untill the end of the season." Reitz concluded.
Following him, India’s 25-year old Vijay Kumar secured the Silver medal, as well as the second Olympic Quota Place to be awarded today, with an overall score of 29 hits + 1 hit in the shoot-off, after scoring two great series of five hits during the final.
The Bronze medal went to China’s Ding Feng, 24, the winner of last year’s World Cup final round here in Fort Benning. The young Chinese shooter had qualified in the lead with 589 points, but with the new final format qualification points are not counting in the final. With 24 hits, he shot-off against Kumar, eventually finishing then in third place, just one hit far from the Olympic Qualification.
Today’s only finalist already qualified to participate in the Games, Cuba’s Leuris Pupo, left the match after the sixth competition series, with 20 hits, while the first two finalists who had to live the shooting line were Josef Fiala of Czech Republic (sixth with 10 hits) and Korea’s Kim Daeyoong (fifth with 16 hits).