Experienced Japanese Pistol shooter Tomoyuki Matsuda raised his first ISSF World Cup Final trophy in New Delhi (IND), where he ruled the 10m Air Pistol Men final and added another Gold to the one he won in the very same range a few month ago during the ISSF World Cup Stage 1.
Matsuda, a former ISSF World Champion in this event, shot two remarkable series midway through the final, adding a 10.5-10.9 combination in the 6th series to the 10.5-10.7 he scored in the previous one. There, he definitely claimed and strengthened his lead, finishing with 241.8 points and finally claiming the ISSF crystal globe.
With his score, Matsuda also set a new World Record, besting the one set by Germany’s Christian Reitz at the 2017 European Championship in Maribor (SLO).
Alongside him on the second step of the podium placed Ukrainian sensation Pavlo Korostylov, competing in his second World Cup Final at the age of 19 years old. Despite a remarkable second half of the match, Korostylov was not able to match Matuda’s pace, finishing with 241.1 points and the Silver medal around his neck. The young Ukrainian shooter also equaled the Junior World Record in this event.
His more experienced teammate Oleh Omelchuk (34) completed the 10m Air Pistol Men podium, taking Bronze medal with 218.8 points and adding it to the World Cup Final Gold he won in Bangkok (THA) in 2008 and to the Bronze he won in Munich (GER) in 2013.
The two Serbian shooters who qualified for the final placed just outside of the medal positions, as World Cup Final title defender Damir Mikec (33) took 4th place with 197.9 points, while 33-year-old Dimitrije Grgic sealed his first World Cup Final start with a 5th place and 177.4 points scored.
The first athlete to be eliminated from the match was People’s Republic of China’s 21-year-old Xu Zhanyi, who took 8th position with 113.8 points in his World Cup Final debut. He was followed by two other first-time participants in this competition: his teammate Yang Wei (32), 7th with 135.6 points, and Vietnam’s 43-year-old Tran Quoc Cuong, who closed his final after shot number 16 and finished in 6th place with 155.7 points.
The ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi (IND) will continue today with the 10m Air Rifle Women final, scheduled at 1:00 pm (UTC+5:30), and the Skeet Men final, scheduled at 4:00 pm.
All finals will be streamed live on the ISSF website, on the Federation’s Livestream channel, on its official Facebook page and on the Olympic Channel.
Live results of the competition, news and updates will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all ISSF social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.