Hungary's 36-year old shooter Peter Sidi won today's 10m Air Rifle Men final, the opening event of the 2015 ISSF World Cup in Rifle and Pistol events held in Changwon (KOR) from the 8th through the 16th of April.
The four-time Olympian scored 208.2 points to climb atop of the podium, beating the world-ranking leader Yang Haoran of the People's Republic of China thanks to a great 10.9 on his second-last shot.
19-year old World Champion Yang finished in second, pocketing the Silver medal with 206.7 points, followed by his teammate Zhu Qinan, the 2004 Olympic Champion, who secured the Bronze medal with 185.3 points.
“I've been preparing a lot for this World Cup, and I finally won it.” Sidi said, wearing the first ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup gold medal of the season.
The Hungarian athlete arrived here in Changwon after a long winter preparation, and with a winning ace up his sleeve. “I have a new rifle,” he said, “and I have never lost a competition since I am using this new equipment. I was really confident going into the final, today.”
By winning today's final, Sidi secured an Olympic Quota Place. And after participating in all Summer Olympics Games since 2000, he is now looking forward to Rio 2016.
“I will participate in the next ISSF World Cup stages this year. And then I will prepare for the first European Games. I am very excited about this new competition, it will be really important for European athletes, on the road leading to Rio.” He said.
“But before that, let's think about this world cup stage. It's not over yet.” Added Sidi, “I will be competing in the small-bore events in the next days. The 50m Rifle 3 Positions competition is my favourite: I won the 2010 World Championship in that discipline. I am looking forward to make it to the Finals again, here in Changwon.”
Three Olympic Quotas were up for grabs today. As both Silver and Bronze medallists Yang Haoran and Zhu Qinan had already won a qualification slot at the 2014 ISSF World Championship in Granada, the remaining quotas went to Korea's Kim Sang Do (fourth with 164.7 points) and to Germany's Nicolas Schallenberger (fifth with 143.4 points).
Serbia's Milenko Sebic did not make it to the Quotas, as he finished his first ISSF World Cup final round in sixth place with 122.1 points. He was followed by Sergey Kruglov of the Russian Federation (seventh with 101.1 points) and by the 2012 Olympic Silver medallist Niccolò Campriani, who closed the medal match in eighth and last place with 79.0 points
The 2015 ISSF World Cup in Rifle and Pistol events in Changwon (KOR) will continue tomorrow, with three medal events. The day will be opened by the 50m Pistol Men Finals at 12.00, and will then continue with the 10m Air Rifle Women and the 25m Pistol Women Finals at 14.00 and 16.00 (Changwon time). Watch the Finals live at www.issf-sports.org