ISSF World Cup Rifle / Pistol · Gabala, AZE

The 20-year-old shooter prevailed against her teammate and current number 5 of the World Ranking Shi Mengyao. Singapore’s Jasmine Ser Xiang Wei completed the podium, as she secured her second World Cup medal this season.

A Chinese double closed day 1 of the ISSF World Cup Stage 5 in Gabala (AZE), where 20-year-old Peng Xinyi secured the Gold medal in her first senior competition ever.

To reach the top of the podium, Peng had to battle with her talented teammate Shi Mengyao (19), Gold medalist at this year’s World Cup stage in New Delhi (IND), World Ranking number 5 in this event and also holder of the current World Record.

On her 24th and final shot, Shi fired a 10.4 that matched Peng’s final score of 248.1, after she stayed on top of the table for the whole match.

In the ensuing tie-breaking shoot-off Peng shot first, nailing a 9.9 that Shi couldn’t be able to best and sealing two more medals for the Chinese National Team after the Silver pocketed by Yao Yuncong in the men’s 10m Air Rifle event.

The third step of the podium was taken by Singaporean 26-year-old Jasmine Ser Xiang Wei, the 2015 Asian Champion, who pocketed her second World Cup medal this season after the Silver she won in the women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions event in New Delhi.

In a tie-breaking shoot-off for the 4th place, Ser beat India’s first-time finalist Meghana Sajjanar (23), who concluded in 4th place with 205.7 points and nailed the best placement of her debuting season.

Another former Asian Champion followed in 5th place, as Sajjanar’s teammate Pooja Ghatkar scored 183.8 points and failed to best the 3rd place she claimed in New Delhi last February.

She was followed by 27-year-old Jung Eunhea of the Republic of Korea, whose last World Cup appearance in this event dates back to Fort Benning (USA) in 2010. Participating in her first career final match, Jung marked a score of 164.3 points and took 6th place.

30-year-old Franziska Peer of Austria qualified for the women’s 10m Air Rifle final for the second consecutive time, after placing 6th in Munich a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to best her previous placement, as she finished in 7th position with 141.7 points.

Liu Ruxuan, the third Chinese finalist in this event, left the match after shot number 12, placing 8th with 121.0 points in her first international appearance.

The ISSF World Cup Stage 5 in Gabala will continue tomorrow with two more finals: the 50m Pistol Men, scheduled at 11:00 am (UTC+4:00), and the 25m Pistol Women, scheduled at 1:00 pm.

Both finals will be streamed live on the ISSF official Facebook page, on issf-sports.org and on its Livestream channel.

News and updates about the competition will be available on www.issf-sports.org and on all the social media platforms of the ISSF: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weibo and Youku.