The world ranking leader Martynov of Belarus climbed from the seventh place up to the second, marking an outstanding score of 105.1 points in the final. China’s Wang, starting the final match with two points of advantage on his after the qualifications, pocketed the Gold medal.
Wang Weiyi of China of won today’s 50m Rifle Prone Men event at the ISSF Rifle & Pistol World Cup held at the 1972 Olympic Shooting Range of Munich in these days.
The 38-year old shooter, ranked 12 in the world, made it to the final with a 599 qualification score, with a one-point head start on his followers. Then, scoring 105.0 points in the final, Wang finished in the lead with an overall score of 704.0 points to win the second ISSF World Cup Gold medal of his career.
Following him, the world’s #1 Prone shooter, Sergei Martynov of Belarus, finished in second place securing the Silver medal. It was the first time in this season that the 44-year old world record holder Martynov did not win the Gold medal. Starting from the pre-Olympic World Cup Stage in London, and continuing at the last Stage in Milan, the Belarusian champion had always won the final matches. Today, he did not start in the best way, qualifying in seventh with 597 points. A couple of nines marked during the qualification rounds placed him far from the top of the start-list, but he did not give up. Shooting solidly like always in the final, Martynov climbed up the scoreboard shot after shot, finishing in second place with a total score of 702.1 points, after shooting today’s highest score in the final, 105.1 points.
And another protagonist of this year’s ISSF World Cup Series, Italy’s Marco De Nicolo, finished on today’s podium, securing the Bronze medal with a total score of 701.6 points, just 0.2 less than what scored by Martynov. The 35-year old Italian shooter, who had won Bronze also at the previous World Cup Stage in Milan, qualified for today’s medal match with 598 points. Then, shooting consistently through the final, he defeated Korea’s Han Jinseop scoring 103.8 points. “I could have done better, in the final” De Nicolo said “But the indoor final hall is so different from the qualification hall. I would have needed a little bit more time for testing… I am happy about the result, but I know I can shoot even better than this.” The Italian Olympic hope added.
While Korea’s 30-year old Rifle expert Han Jinseop placed in fourth with 701.6 points, the Swiss finalist Marcel Buerge finished in fifth with 701.4 points. Austria’s Christian planer, who shot 104.4 points in the final, finished in sixth with 701.4 points climbing up from the eighth place. Behind him, the home shooter Daniel Brodmeier closed the round in seventh place with 701.2 points, while France’s Valerian Sauveplane – who had started off the match in third place with 598 points – landed in eighth and last place with 700.9 points after scoring 102.9 points in the final.
The competition day continues now with the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men final, taking place at 15.15 at Munich’s final hall. Follow the match on www.issf-sports.org