Upset on the Last Shot

An eleventh hour mistake by Chinese shooter Hun Ju in today’s 10m Pistol Women event cost her the gold, allowing Natalia Paderina and Svetlana Smirnova to climb to the first and second place respectively. It was a very competitive final, but, unfortunately for Hu Jun, not her best day. After qualifying in first place with 388 points, she shot a final round of only 96.1 points, shooting 8.5 twice. Nonetheless, before the 10th shot, she was still in first place, although just barely. Several seconds after all the other competitors had released their final shots, Hu Jun posted her fatal 8.0, dropping into 3rd place and leaving silver and gold to the Russian shooters. Natalia Paderina can certainly be proud of her 103.1 points in the final round, including a 10.8 and her final 10.6 which brought her the gold. During her climb from the fourth place, she remained locked in a fierce battle with her teammate Smirnova, who also shot a very solid final round, albeit with one 8.7. Jasna Sekaric, ranked number one in this event, and the gold medal winner in this year’s World Cup in Milan, shot a very strong final round of 99.7, but this was not enough to overcome her 7th place qualification and she was only able to gain one place, finishing in 6th.