Strong competition continues in Gabala
Chen Dongqi and Yi Siling won gold and silver at 50m Rifle 3 Positions women event at the ISSF World Cup in Gabala, rocketing China atop of the intermediate medal standings on the Day 6.
Chen Dongqi (26), a two-time world cup bronze medalist, secured the gold medal at the end of a great final. China is now atop of the intermediate medal standings, when 10 out of 15 events has been conducted, with 5 golds, 3 silvers and 1 bronze, followed by USA with 2 golds and 2 silvers.
24-year old Anna Zhukova of Russia followed the two Chinese shooters, claiming bronze with 444.8 points. She had already finished in the spotlights three days ago, at the women's 10m Air Rifle final, as she placed in fourth winning an Olympic quota spot for her country.
The two Rio 2016 Olympic quotas up for grabs at today's final went to Poland's Sylwia Bogacka (33) and to Switzerland's Jasmin Mischler (23).
Kim Cheongyong had won the bronze at 50m Pistol, then winning the gold, and a quota place in 10m Air Pistol.
Kim closed on 199.0 points, overcoming Kazakhstan's Vladimir Issachenko the silver medalist, just before the final shot.
In the second part of the final, Issachenko, 32, had mostly been in the lead. On the second-last shot, though, he hit a 7.8 that let Kim take over Issachenko, and the first spot.
Issachenko came in 2nd, just 1.6 points behind Kim (197.4 points).
Slovakia's Juraj Tuzinsky, who had been leading the final in its early stages, finally took the bronze with 178.9 points
Tuzinsky, 30, had never been on a World Cup podium before.
In addition to Kim's Korea, the other quota-winning country was Kazakhstan: Issachenko, and Rashid Yunusmetov secured indeed two tickets to Rio2016 for their country.
The 36-year-old Yunusmetov, who had taken part in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, came in 5th (138.6 points), just behind Russia's Denis Koulakov.
Koulakov, 32, had started well. He scored the opening round's highest score (30.8), and then kept fighting for the first positions. But an 8.1 made him leave the competition in 4th (158.1).
Spain's Pablo Carrera (116.8), USA's Will Brown (96.9), and China's Pu Qifeng (76.5) completed the leaderboard in 6th, 7th, and 8th.
"I feel very good," says gold medalist Kim. "I was very focused on the competition."
ISSF World Cup, which is bringing together best athletes to compete in the rifle, pistol, and shotgun shooting disciplines is organized by the National Olympic Committee, Youth and Sports Ministry, Gabala Shooting Club, and the Azerbaijani Shooting Federation.
Some 34 of the winning athletes will qualify to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio.
This is the sixth stage of the competition. The previous five qualifying stages of the World Cup were held in the USA, Germany, UAE, Cyprus, and Mexico throughout the year.
The competition, which includes 17 types of shooting sports will last until August 16.
Azerbaijan is being represented by 27 athletes at the event, including Emil Jafarov, Nurlana Jafarova, Pasha Ahadpur, Niyaz Agazade, and others.
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