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China's Zhang wins the first Gold at ISSF World Cup Final

Xinhua, September 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

The 19-year-old World's No. 5 Zhang Bowen of China - who qualified for today's final by winning the second world cup stage of the season in Changwon (South Korea) - won the first Gold medal of the ISSF World Cup Final, finishing atop of the 50m Pistol Men event.

Zhang, today's youngest finalists, shot a consistent match, leaving behind him Olympic and world champions, to win his first World Cup final in career.

With 192.6 points, the Chinese athlete beat Vietnam's 40-year-old veteran Xuan Vinh Hoang, who finished in second place with 189.3 points after closing his match with three frustrating shots in the seventh ring (7.8, 7.5, 7.9).

The event takes place at the 1972 Olympic shooting range of Munich, in combination with the German Shooting Championship, one of the largest shooting competitions of the world, which sees over 8 thousands athletes from all over the country competing in Olympic and non Olympic shooting events in ten days.

But, in spite of those three bad shots, Hoang's result won the applause of the spectators. Travelling from Vietnam to Germany, his baggage was delayed and the Vietnamese shooter did not receive his pistol in time for the competition.

As an extrema ratio solution, the 40-year-old athlete shot the match with a new, out-of-the-box pistol, without custom grip and adjustments. A remarkable achievement in today's shooting sport world, where every single piece of equipment is usually fine-tuned and customized to the last screw.

Hoang also managed to keep behind himself the title defender, the winner of the 2014 ISSF World Cup Final Wang Zhiwei of China, who placed in third with 173.6 points after a close duel against his teammate Mai Jiajie, the winner of the last ISSF World Cup Stage in Gabala.

The 2015 ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup Final kicked-off in Munich, Germany, today. The best 85 rifle and pistol shooters of the world, selected throughout this year's four ISSF World Cup Stages in Changwon (South Korea), Fort Benning (USA), Munich (GER) and Gabala (ZE), arrived here to challenge the title defenders and the 2014 World Champions, aiming at the 2015 World Cup title. Endi