Published on 06 Mar 2016

First-time finalist Beer beats world’s #1 Pejcic at Bangkok’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Final

issf-logo
Marco Dalla Dea

The 21-year old athlete controlled the pressure of the match - shooting consistently through the three positions - to win her first world cup medal against the strongest the 50m Rifle 3 Positions shooter of the world.

Germany’s 21-year old first-time world cup finalist Jolyn Beer marked an odd-defying victory against the world #1 Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia, at today’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women final at the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand.

 

In spite of her lack of experience, the young German shooter secured Gold with 455.9 points, leaving her Croatian opponent in second place with 454.5 points, 1.4 points behind her.

 

Beer finished the Kneeling section of the final in third place with 151.8 points, and then climbed up in second at the end of the Prone series with 307.1 points, eventually overtaking Pejcic in the last fraction of the match.

 

She had never won an international match, before, and she was not event listed in the ISSF World Ranking.

 

“It’s amazing, it’s my first world cup, and my first medal. I am speechless,” said Beer.

 

“I was quite confident, anyway. The Kneeling position is my weakest one. I told myself that if I managed do well there, I was going to finish in style. And that’s what happened.”

 

“The pressure kicked-in at the last shot. I really wanted to beat Snjezana and win the match, but I was afraid to fire a bad shot. I zeroed-in, thinking about the technique only, and I made it!”

 

The 2015 “ISSF Shooter of the Year” Pejcic, 33, had closed the Kneeling and the Prone series in the lead with 154.7 and 308.1 points. Eventually, she took Silver with 454.5 points, scoring two 9.7 out of her last three shots.

 

She was followed by People’s Republic of China’s Zhang Binbin, an expert 10m Air Rifle shooter participating in her first 3 Positions final today. The 27-year old Chinese shooter, started off the match with a weak Kneeling series, but then climbed up the scoreboard through the Prone and Standing positions. Fighting for the medals, she jeopardized her chances to finish atop of the podium as she scored an 8.5 on her 44th shot, eventually claiming the Bronze with 444.0 points.

 

Today’s final turned into a bitter match also for USA’s Sarah Beard currently ranked 19th in the world in this event. The 24-year old American shooter, fighting for her first world cup medal, scored an unlucky 8.3 which pulled her out of the final at the 43rd shot, placing 4th with 433.3 points, just 0.6 points far from the podium. Her teammate Sarah Scherer placed in 7th with 401.2 points. The 25-year old shooter - who had participated in her last final in this event two years ago - closed the Kneeling and Prone sections of the match in 6th place with 150.3 and 304.7 points, but then slid down in the placements, and left the match together with Serbia’s Ivana Andjusic Maksimovic. The 25-year old Olympic Silver medalist from Belgrade took the 8th place with 397.8 points.

 

Ser Xiang Wei Jasmine of Singapore, 25 - who had already won a Bronze here in Bangkok, three days ago, at the 10m Air Rifle Women final - finished in 5th with 422.7 points, ahead of London 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Adela Bruns (maiden name: Sykorova), 29, from the Czech Republic, 6th with 411.5 points.

 

Tomorrow, the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand, will continue with one more medal match: the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men final is scheduled at 2.15 (UTC+7) and will be broadcasted live on www.issf-sports.org

Medal standings after 8 out of 10 events

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 CHN 4 2 3 9
2 BRA 1 1
2 DEN 1 1
2 GER 1 1
2 IND 1 1
6 AUS 1 1
6 AUT 1 1
6 CRO 1 1
6 KOR 1 1
6 TPE 1 1
6 USA 1 1
12 HUN 2 2
13 MGL 1 1
13 SIN 1 1
13 VIE 1 1
8 8 8 24