Published on 28 Jul 2006
Chen waits no longer for her first World Championship title
Sara John
Ying Chen, of China, won the gold medal in women’s sport pistol, today, at the World Shooting Championships. Her teammate Fegji Fei won second while Gundegmaa Otryad, of Mongolia, took third.
Chen, who won the bronze medal four years ago at the World Championships in Lahti, Finland, shot a fantastic 591 (295 precision, 296 rapid) to qualify for the finals with over a six point lead on Fei. She then shot a 201.8 in the final to become the current World Champion. “It has been four years of waiting for another shot at this title,” Chen said. “I’m very glad to win in my second World Championship appearance. Four years was a hard wait for me.” Fei was the only competitor to legitimately challenge Chen for this year’s title shooting a 585 (294, 291) qualifying score and a 205.4 in the final to finish with 790.4 total and the silver medal. Otryad shot a 582 qualifying and walked into the final in fifth, she then hit a 204.2 in the final to move up to third place. Chen, Fie and Otryad currently hold the World Ranking of No. 1, No.2 and No. 3, respectively. Serbia-Montenegro’s Jasna Sekaric finished in fourth, also making a run in the final round to finish with a 782.8. Germany’s Munkhbayar Dorjsuren fell from third to fifth after qualifying with a 582 and shooting a 199.6 in the final. Liudmila Chabatar, of Belarus, walked away in the sixth position with a 781.3. The other Mongolian to make the final, Munkzul Tsogbadrah, finished in seventh with a 780.9, while the other Belarusian to finish in the top-eight was Zhanna Shapialevich, who shot a 779.2. Both finalists from Belarus also secured Olympic quota spots with their performance.