Two-time Olympic medallist Olena Kostevych of Ukraine shined in the 10m Air Pistol Women final at the ISSF World Cup in Rio de Janeiro (BRA), securing the Gold medal with a convincing performance, and besting Silver medallist Antoaneta Boneva of Bulgaria by 4.0 points.
Kostevych claimed the lead once and for all after the very first series, building a comfortable lead over Boneva along the first half of the match and securing the highest step of the podium with 201.7 points.
“I feel optimistic about Rio 2016, even if this was just a test event it felt good to win the Gold medal in the very same venue where the Olympic Shooting competition will take place,” said Kostevych right after the medal ceremony. “Anyway, it has been a very difficult match because of the hot. Some things need to be adjusted before the Games.”
Boneva, who concluded with 197.7 points, agreed with her: “I’m obviously satisfied with my final result, but it has been very hard to stand on the firing position for such a long time, sweating and trying to stay concentrated.” Luckily for them and for all the other shooters the finals hall will be equipped with air conditioned for Rio 2016.
First-time ISSF World Cup finalist Teo Shun Xie of Singapore nailed a surprising Bronze medal, besting more decorated shooters and concluding with the final score of 178.0 points.
Chinese Taipei’s Wu Chia Ying left the match with a little disappointment, placing 4th when she could have been on the podium with Kostevych and Boneva.
In fact, during a shoot-off between Heidi Diethelm Gerber of Switzerland and Guo Wenju of China to determine the 7th place, Wu mistakenly took a shot, finishing with a deduction of 2 points from her score and concluding with 157.7.
Guo’s and Diethelm Gerber’s scores counted anyway, sealing the 7th spot for the Chinese two-time Olympic Gold medallist, who recorded 97.4 final points, while the Swiss shooter extended her match by two more shots, concluding 6th with 117.3 points.
South Korea’s Kim Jangmi finished 5th with 137.4 points.
The Air Pistol Silver medallist at last month’s ISSF World Cup stage in Bangkok (THA), Chinese Taipei’s Tien Chia Chen, failed to match her previous performance and left the competition in 8th place with 76.6 points.
The ISSF World Cup stage in Rio de Janeiro will continue this afternoon with the Trap Men final, scheduled at 3:00 PM (UTC-3).
News and updates will be available on the ISSF official website and on its social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Weibo. While highlights of all the finals will be available on YouTube and Youku.