The reigning World Champion Matsuda won the 50m Pistol Men final beating China's world cup title holder Wang, showing to be ready to defend his title at the forthcoming 51st ISSF World Championship in Granada.
Day-4 of the 2014 ISSF World Cup in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun events in Munich, Germany, started off with the 50m Pistol Men final, where some of the best pistol shooters of the world met in a breathtaking match.
The Japanese pistol master Tomoyuki Matsuda (38) finished atop of the highest step of the podium with a final score of 194.0 points, outdoing the world cup title holder and 2012 Olympic Bronze medallist Wang Zhiwei (25) from China with a great 10.2-point last shot. Wang walked out of the match with 192.4 points and the Silver medal, almost two points behind Matsuda.
After winning a Silver medal at the first world cup of the season, in Fort Benning (USA), Matsuda confirmed to be in great shape, today.
“I won that Silver medal at the beginning of the season, but I should better say that there I've lost the Gold medal by a few tenths. That's why I arrived here in Munich so motivated to win.” Matsuda said. Indeed, he had lost Fort Benning's Gold by only 0.4 points.
“The big aim of the season is the ISSF World Championship in Granada. I want to win it, I want the defend my title and win again. I will prepare for it by participating in the next two world cup stages, in Maribor and Beijing. I will be ready.”
Matsuda is going for it, and he know's what he's talking about it. Back in 2010, here in Munich, he won the 50th ISSF World Championship, securing an Olympic quota place that qualified him for the 2012 Games. Now he's ready for Granada, where the first quotas of Rio 2016 will be assigned, next September.
But he won't be alone, there. All the best shooters of the world are getting ready for that event, and Matsuda will certainly meet again Wang Zhiwei, as well as Spain's Pablo Carrera, today's Bronze medallist (172.8 points), who will be playing on his home turf in Granada.
Another athlete who's determined to become a protagonist of the next world championship is Damir Mikec, the Serbian shooter who had led this morning's qualifications, but who did not make it to the podium. The 30-year old athlete left the match shaking his head at shot 16, and placed in forth after a disappointing 9.7 shot with a total score of 151.8 points.
The 10-time world cup stage medallist Vladimir Isakov, 44, from the Russian Federation, currently ranked seventh in the world in this event, was eliminated two shots earlier, placing in fifth with 131.2 points.
Turkey's Yusuf Dikec (41) began the final with a -2 points deduction for late reporting at the final. In spite of that, he floated amid the scoreboard throughout the first part of the match, until he fired an unlucky 6.5point shot which pulled him down in sixth place, with an overall score of 110.0 points.
The two-time Ukrainian Olympian Oleh Omelchuk (30) closed his final at the eighth shot, being the first eliminated shooter, with a score of 71.9 points. The 2008 10m Air Pistol Olympic Champion Pang Wei of China (27) followed him, placing in seventh with 91.3 points, after the tenth shot.
The 2014 ISSF World Cup in Munich will continue this afternoon with the 25m Pistol Women and the Double Trap Men Final. Follow the next events on www.issf-sports.org