Beijing’s 2008 Olympic Bronze medalist Christian Reitz of Germany (29) triumphed in today’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men final at the ISSF Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The world record holder finished atop of the table with 32 hits, after hitting 5 out of 5 targets in his last series, securing another gold medal here i1n Baku, where he had won the first edition of the European Games one year ago.
Reitz beat the current world rank’s #1 Zhang Fusheng of the People’s Republic of China (22), who finished in second with 30 hits. Today’s was Zhang’s third world cup medal of the season, after his two victories in Bangkok and Munich.
The German winner had battled neck and neck also against Republic of Korea’s Kang Minu, right until the 6th series. Then, the 30-year old Korean athlete only hit one target out of five on his last series, sliding down in third place, where he closed the match with a score of 25 hits.
After today’s victory at the last world cup stage of the season, with only 40 days to go to the Games, Reitz is one of the favorites in the lead-up to Rio 2016, where he will try to improve his last Olympic record, London’s 8th place.
Following the medalists, the World Cup title holder Jean Quiquampoix of France (20) did not reach the podium today, and finished in fourth with 21 hits. The France shooter, ranked second in the world, had won silver and bronze at the last two world cup stages, held in Munich and Rio de Janeiro.
Here in Baku, he was followed by Zhang Jian of the People’s Republic of China (30), who slid down on the scoreboard when he was given a 1-hit deduction as he fired overtime on his second series.
Zhang beat Japan’s Akiyama Teruyoshi (44) in a shoot-off by 2 to 1 hits to survive the first elimination of the match, eventually placing 5th with 16 hits. Akiyama took the 6th place with 13 hits.
As Day-5 of the ISSF Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun World Cup comes to an end, the People’s Republic of China is still leading the intermediate medals standings, after 11 out of 15 events conducted, with 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze. The Republic of Korea follows in second, with 6 medals: 1 Gold and 5 Bronze. Remarkably, the 11 Gold medals assigned so far here in Baku, went to 11 different countries, highlighting once again the universality of the sport.
The event will continue tomorrow, June 27, the second-last day of the stage. The men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Final will be held at 12.00 Am (GMT+4), while the women’s Skeet Final will follow at 5.45 Pm.