ISSF World Cup Final Rifle / Pistol / Shotgun · New Delhi, IND

The 20-year-old Rifle shooter won a thrilling 10m Air Rifle Men final, besting Belarus’ experienced shooter Vitali Bubnovich at the last shot, while his teammate Peter Sidi took Bronze.

Hungary’s 20-year-old Rifle shooter Istvan Peni secured the ISSF World Cup Final trophy at the Dr. Karni Shooting Range, where he won a thrilling duel in the men’s 10m Air Rifle event against Belarus’ 42-year-old Vitali Bubnovich.

After entering the final with the highest qualification score, Peni shot remarkably all along the match, missing the 10th ring only twice in the whole performance, and nailing a 10.5-or-higher score with 13 of his 24 shots.

Paired with Bubnovich at the 229.3 mark with two shots left to fire, Peni hit a 10.5-10.0 combination, besting his rival’s score on both rounds and signing his first ISSF World Cup Final trophy with the Equaled Junior World Record: 249.8 points.

Despite missing the first step of the podium, 42-year-old Bubnovich celebrated his first medal in an ISSF World Cup Final, finishing with 249.5 points and the Silver medal around his neck.

“The match was great, very exciting,” said Peni after the medal ceremony. “I felt good since the sighting shots, and the level of everyone’s shooting was pretty high. I was keeping an eye on the scoreboard this time, so I knew I was tied with Bubnovich before the last series.”

“I’ll be competing in the Bundesliga as soon as I come back to Europe,” he concluded. “Actually, I missed a match because of the World Cup Final, so I send my greetings and best wishes to my team!”

The third step of the podium was taken by Peni’s teammate Peter Sidi (39), holder of the 2016 ISSF World Cup Final title, who secured the Bronze medal with 228.5 points. It’s his seventh World Cup Final medal in this event, the eighth overall.

Sidi preceded Serbia’s 32-year-old Milutin Stefanovic, Gold medalist at this year’s World Cup stage in Gabala (AZE) and current holder of the World Record in this event. Stefanovic placed 4th with 207.6 points, failing to add a second medal to the Silver he won yesterday in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event.

After taking Gold in this event in his ISSF World Cup debut, People’s Republic of China’s 20-year-old Song Buhan came back to the Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range for his first start in a World Cup Final, concluding in 5th position with 186.8 points.

He was followed by Japan’s rising talent Atsushi Shimada (19), Bronze medalist at this year’s World Cup stage in New Delhi, who sealed his World Cup Final debut with a 6th place and 164.1 points scored; and by 35-year-old Omer Akgun of Turkey, also a first-time World Cup Final participant, who finished in 7th position and scored 144.7.

Home favorite Ravi Kumar (27) of India, another first-time participant, left the match after shot number 12, placing 8th with 123.4 points.