Chinese pistol shooter Zhang Fusheng. (Photo : ISSF)
China gun shooter Zhang Fusheng captured the gold medal in the 2016 International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Rifle and Pistol World Cup's 25-m Rapid Fire Pistol category on Monday in Bangkok, Thailand.
The 22-year-old shooter defeated his teammate and compatriot Li Yuehong by a one hit advantage, 29 to 28 points, while 30-year-old Vietnamese Ha Minh Thanh settled for the bronze with 23 points, as per Xinhuanet.
"I was very confident in today's final. I have been training a lot and I was not stressed during the match," Zhang said, as per the ISSF website.
The world no. 22 is said to be targeting to secure a position in the Chinese national team that will compete in the Rio Olympics in August of this year, as reported by Shanghai Daily. China only has two Olympic slots available.
In other Pistol events, India's Jitu Rai captured the gold in the 50-m Pistol category with 191.3 points, edging China's Wei Pang (186.5) and Zhiwei Wang (165.8), who had the silver and bronze. The gold in the 10-m Air Pistol event was collected by Brazilian Felipe Almeida Wu with the United States' Will Brown and Vietnam's Hoàng Xuân Vinh capturing the silver and bronze respectively.
In the women's division, China's JingJing Zhang won the gold in the 25-m Pistol event with South Korea's Ju Hyun Park and Mongolia's Gundegmaa Otryad getting the silver and bronze. Meanwhile, in the 10-m Air Pistol, another Chinese shooter, Guo Wenjun won the event, with Chinese Taipei's Tien Chia Chen and China's Zhang Mengxue snagging the silver and bronze medals.
The women's division does not have a Rapid Fire Pistol category.
As of the moment, China is leading the medal tally of the said competitions with five golds, three silvers, and four bronzes for a total of 12 medals. The United States is a far second with two medals, a gold and a silver.
Other competing countries that have captured at least a gold medal are Brazil, Denmark, Germany, and India. Australia, Austria, Croatia, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Ukraine won a silver medal each while Hungary and Vietnam had two bronzes.
Mongolia and Singapore had a bronze each to round out the medal standings.
