The first-time finalist Hau Kai beat his titled teammate Lan Xing at the last shot to win his first ISSF medal in Beijing, on his home turf.
Hau Kai of the People's Republic of China won the 50m Rifle Prone Men final at the 2014 ISSF World Cup in Beijing, beating his teammate Lan Xing at the very last shot.
Lan Xing, the winner of the last world cup stage in Maribor, and currently ranked fifth in the world, led the final round from the 10th shot on, right to 19th shot, when his advantage on Hao was down to 0.1 points only.
The last shot turned then the tables in favor of Hau, a 29-year old first-time finalist, who fired a great 10.4 beating Lan's 10.1 to finish atop of the podium with a total score of 208.2 points. Lan eventually secured the Silver medal with 208.0 points.
“Going against my teammate did not add extra pressure on me. On the contrary, knowing that both the Silver and the Gold medal were going to be for China, I relaxed and I tried to fire that last shot in the best possible way.” Hou said.
“I was already happy to make it to the final, and I am excited to walk out of it with the Gold medal around my neck.” The first-time medallist said, after the award ceremony.
“I had never entered a final round in a world-level competition before, but I have been training hard for finals and I was confident. I just did what my coach told me to do.” He added.
The Bronze medal went to Sweden's 26-year old first-time finalist Sam Adersson, who scored 187.2 points beating Norway's Kjell Roar Livold (fourth with 166.0 points) with a perfect 10.9-point shot.