ISSF World Cup in New Delhi, Day-2: People’s Republic of China and Italy in the spotlights

At today’s first medal event, the men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol final, Lao Jiajie climbed atop of the podium - joined by his teammate Lin Junmin in second place - securing People’s Republic of China’s third gold in two days.

Lao moved in the lead since the beginning of the final match by nailing a 4-hit and two 5-hit series consecutively. He defended the top of the scoreboard throughout the whole match right to the last series, when his teammate Lin tied him at 31 hits.

The gold medal had to be decided through a shoot-off. Lao zeroed in, and with an unbeatable 5-hit series he secured his first ISSF gold medal with a total tally of 31+5 hits, leaving first-time participant Lin in second with 31+3.

“I am really happy about this medal. It qualifies me for the 2017 ISSF World Cup Final and that’s a nice achievement,” said Lao. “I am really proud of sharing the podium with my teammate Lin. This is China’s third gold medal in two days, I think this proves we are a strong and very united team.”

Azerbaijan’s Ruslan Lunev secured the Bronze with 23 hits out of 35, dropping out of the elimination-style match after the seventh series. The medal won by 27-year athlete turned out to be an historical achievement for Azerbaijan, as the country had never won a world-level medal in this event before.

Italy finished in the spotlights at the following men’s Trap Final, as teammates Simone D’Ambrosio and Giovanni Pellielo pocketed gold and silver, leaving Spain’s Alberto Fernandez in third place.

20-year old D’Ambrosio shattered 45 targets out of 50 in the his first seniors final match, beating 47-year old four-time Olympic medalist Pellielo, who closed the competition in second place with 43 hits.

The two athletes were tied right to the last series, when Pellielo missed two out of his last five targets, dropping down in second place.

“It’s overwhelming,” said D’Ambrosio, “not only this is the my first final among the seniors, but I had to face the best trap shooter of the world, Pellielo.”

“It has been a tough competition, here in New Delhi. But luckily I made it. Now I have to book another trip to India: I qualified for the world cup final, that will take place here in October.”

Rio 2016 Silver medallist Pellielo added another world cup medal to his trophy showcase: the Italian sharpshooter participated in 45 world cup stages since 1990, making it to the podium 16 times. Today’s medal will probably qualify him for the 2017 ISSF World Cup Final, a competition he has already won 7 times, more than anybody else in shotgun events.

Tomorrow, February 26, the competition will continue with two more medal events to be conducted: the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions final is scheduled to start at 13.00 (UTC+5.30), and it will be followed by the men’s Double Trap medal match at 15.30.