ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol · Munich, GER

The 29-year old shooter finished in the spotlights at the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Munich, today, by securing his first world cup gold in this event.

Day-2 of the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in Munich, Germany, was opened by the 50m Pistol Men Final. A match won by Spain’s flag bearer Pablo Carrera, 29, who secured his first world cup gold in this event in career with a score of 193.9 points.

Carrera started-off the match with a series of strong shots, moving atop of the table. Throughout the last three series, he managed to keep the lead, leaving behind him two Olympic Champions - Pang Wei of the People’s Republic of China, and Jin Jongoh of Korea - who both shot disappointing 7s missing their chances to secure the brightest medal.

“Finally I made it, after ten years.” Carrera said, at the medal ceremony.

“Before the last two shots, I had less than 1 point of advantage on my follower, and I have to admit that I was a bit nervous.”

“It has not been easy. I was up against Pang Wai and Jin Jongoh, two Olympic Champions, two of the best shooters of the world. Mental strength is very important in this sport: you’ve got to believe in yourself.”

“I am obviously looking forward to the Olympic Games, and I hope I will be able to shoot as good as I did today in Rio.”

“I won’t participate in the last world cup stage of the season, in Baku. I prefer to stay at home, in Spain, and fine-tune the last things there.”

The 2008 10m Pistol Olympic Champion Pang Wei (29), ranked fourth in the world in this event, sealed the Silver medal with 190.3 points, after closing his match with a frustrating 7.2 shot.

The same happened to the three-time Olympic Champion Jin Jongoh of the Republic of Korea, 36, who fired a 7.7 on his last shot, landing in third place with an overall score of 170.4 points.

Carrera beat also another top athlete, today: world ranking #1 Jitu Rai of India, 28, who ended up in fourth with 149.7 points, 2.7 points shy of making it to the podium.

Czech Republic’s Jindrich Dubovy, 23, took the 5th place with 128.3 points, followed by Bulgaria’s first-time finalist Samuil Donkov, 32, 6th with 107.3 points.

The 28-year old 2-time Olympian Leonid Ekimov of the Russian Federation - who had led the qualification with 565 points - closed today’s final in 7th, with 90.7 points, followed by 40-year old Tomoyuki Matsuda of Japan 8th with 70.9 points.