The Russian team triumphed with a gold-silver medal combo at the men’s 10m Air Rifle final, the opening event of the 2018 ISSF World Cup in Rile, Pistol and Shotgun events in Changwon, Republic of Korea.
Alexander Dryagin, 27, beat his teammate Vladimir Maslennikov, 23, with 251.2 points - setting a new world record.
Dryagin climbed up the scoreboard in the second half of the final match, after a relatively slow start. With an unmatchable series of deep 10s, he bested his teammate by 1.0 points, securing his first world cup stage gold in career.
The two had also dueled at the European Championship in Gyor, Hungary, last February. There, Olympic Bronze medalist Vladimir Maslennikov won the match, securing the continental title, while leaving Dryagin in second.
Tables turned today, as Maslennikov finished in second place with 250.2 points.
The world ranking’s leader Istvan Peni, 21, from Hungary, followed them in third place, pocketing the Bronze medal with 228.5 points. The 2017 ISSF World Cup title holder, who started-off the season by winning the first world cup stage of the year in Guadalajara, Mexico, led most of today’s final, sliding then in third place as he fired a 10.0 and a 9.8 on his 21st and 22nd shots.
Following the medalists, today’s turned into an unlucky match for the Indian shooters.
After finishing on the third step of the podium at the inaugural ISSF World Cup Stage of the season in Guadalajara, 28-year old Ravi Kumar of India closed today’s match in fourth with 208.4 points, finishing just 0.2 points behind the podium placements, at the moment of the elimination.
His 19-year old teammate Arjun Babuta, ended up in sixth place, being eliminated after shot 16. Babuta, who had won a junior world cup silver medal in Sydney in March, let today’s final right to the 10th shot, falling then down in the placements as he nailed a series of frustrating shots.
Competing on his home turf, Song Soojoo of the Republic of Korea made it to his first ISSF World Cup final match, today. The 26-year old athlete was the first finalist to leave the match, being eliminated after the 12th shot with a final score of 122.6 points. China’s Hui Zichenng, 28, an expert 3-position shooter competing in his first final match in this event, followed him after the 14th shot, taking the 7th place with 144.0 points.
The 2018 ISSF World Cup in Changwon will continue today with the women’s 10m Air Rifle final, scheduled at 17.15 Korean Standard Time (GMT+9). 13 more competitions will take place in the next days, in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun disciplines, right to the 29th of April. Find the full schedule of the championship here: http://www.issf-sports.org/competitions/venue/schedule.ashx?cshipid=2391
All finals will be broadcasted live on the ISSF’s website, facebook, twitter and livestream pages. Extra contents ara available on the Federation’s Instagram, YouTube, Weibo, YouKu and Flickr pages.