One year ago, he survived the tsunami, competed at the ISSF World Cup in Sydney, and dedicated his medals to Japan. One year later, Matsuda wins again and sends a message of hope.
Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsuda won today’s 50m Pistol Men final at the ISSF World Cup in all events, a pre-Olympic test event taking place at the Royal Artillery Barracks shooting venue in London, in the frame of the London Prepares Series.
The 36-year old Japanese policeman had finished in the spotlights last year, when he survived the terrible tsunami that hit Japan, and came to compete at the ISSF World Cup in Sydney just two weeks later. There, he surprised everybody winning two Gold medals and dedicating the victories to his wounded homeland.
“Japan rose up from that disaster. There are still much to do, and it will take years to rebuild everything. It’s a deep wound.” Matsuda said today, after winning the 50m Pistol Gold medal on the Olympic lines of the Royal artillery Barracks venue in London
“I really hope that my successes can inspire people and give them courage. This is my little contribute. I hope I will be able to win again in June!” Matsuda added.
Entering in the final with a qualification score of 572 points, he managed his seven points lead over his opponents, scoring 92.8 points during the medal match and finishing on the highest step of the podium with 663.2 points.
“I did not shoot my best final, here, luckily I had a big head start” Matsuda said.
“The lights in the final hall are quite strong. I did not expect that. Now that I know, I will be prepared in July, at Games time.” He added.
Ranked second in the world, Matsuda is the reigning world champion in the 50m Pistol Men event, and he was the first to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games, back in August 2010. After winning four World Cup Stages within the last four years, he’s now looking forward to the London Olympics. But there’s a long list of competitors chasing his golden dream.
Today’s Silver medal went to Russia’s Vladimir Isakov, the 2008 Olympic Bronze medallist, who finished on the podium with a total score of 663.2 points. After qualifying with 565 points, he scored today’s highest final score 98.2 points, chasing the Gold. But Matsuda 7-point head start turned out to be too much to take, for Isakov, who finished in second securing his eighth World Cup medal since 2002.
China’s Tian Zhang finished in third today, securing the Bronze medal with 660.6 points. The 31-year old shooter contended the Silver to Isakov right to the seventh final’s shot. Then, the Chinese finalist nailed three frustrating shots in the ninth and eighth ring consecutively, landing on the third step of the podium.
Jin Jong Oh, the Korean top ranked shooter, closed the final match in fourth place, with an overall score of 660.2 points, turning out to be just 0.4 shy of finding a spot on the podium. He was followed by Kazaksthan Vladimir Issachenko (fifth with 655.9 points), Russia’s Leonid Ekimov (sixth with 654.9 points), USA’s Daryl Szarenski (seventh with 654.6 points) and by France’s Franck Dumoulin (with 652.9 points).
The ISSF World Cup in all events in London will continue tomorrow, with two more final matches to take place: the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women final and the Trap Women final, both scheduled in the afternoon.
Follow the match on www.issf-sports.org and on www.youtube.com/channel