It went down to the last shot, and finally, it crowned the world number 1: the men’s 10m Air Rifle final lived up to the expectations, giving an exciting show to the crowd that filled CODE Paradero in Guadalajara (MEX), where the first stage of the 2018 ISSF World Cup Series is currently underway.
In his 24th shot, indeed, Hungary’s 21-year-old Istvan Peni fired a great 10.6, overtaking Austria’s 28-year-old Alexander Schmirl and securing the first World Cup gold of his career in this event with 249.5 points.
Schmirl — who previously entered the final with the highest qualification score — closed his match with a disappointing 9.4, finishing with 248.7 points and pocketed silver: the first World Cup medal of his career.
The podium was completed by India’s 28-year-old Ravi Kumar, who took Bronze with 226.4 points and secured the first World Cup medal of his career, also preceding his 30-year-old teammate Deepak Kumar, who concluded in 4th place with 205.8 points.
The two Indian shooters were tied at the 20th-shot mark, and it took an additional shoot-off for Ravi to prevail over Deepak.
Kumar was followed by Israel’s Sergey Richter (28), who placed in 5th position with 184.1 points, and 26-year-old Bernhard Pickl — Austria’s second final participant — who finished 6th with 162.7.
In first World Cup participation ever, 17-year-old Argentinian shooter Facundo Firmapaz finished in 7th place, besting the 49th place he nailed at last year’s ISSF World Championship in Suhl (GER). Firmapaz — the youngest shooter among the eight finalists — concluded with 142.4 points.
After shot number 12 it was France’s 23-year-old Brian Baudouin who left the match, taking 8th place with 118.0 points.
The ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara (MEX) will continue today with the 10m Air Pistol Women final, scheduled at 1:45 pm (UTC+6:00).
The finals will be streamed live on the ISSF website, on the Federation’s Livestream channel, on its official Facebook page and on the Olympic Channel.
Live results of the competition, news and updates will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.