ISSF World Cup: China’s shooting stars Lihao Sheng and Huang Yuting win 10-metre air rifle golds, Sheng with world record
- Olympic silver medallist Sheng, 19, totalled 254.5 points to add 1.2 to the mark he set at last year’s Asian Games in Hangzhou
- World junior record-holder Huang, 17, won gold by narrowest of margins before the two combined to win the mixed team event
China’s 19-year-old Olympic silver medallist Lihao Sheng broke his own 10-metre air rifle men’s world record in taking gold on the opening day of finals at the ISSF World Cup in Munich.
Sheng totalled 254.5 points to add 1.2 to the mark he set at last year’s home Asian Games in Hangzhou.
That flourish was followed by another hugely impressive Chinese performance in the women’s 10m air rifle, where 17-year-old Huang Yuting, who had set a world junior record of 635.5 in qualifying, overtook 16-year-old Hyojin Ban of the Republic of Korea with her final effort to earn gold by the narrowest of margins, 252.7 to 252.6.
The two champions combined at the end of the day to add further gold to the Chinese cause as they won the 10m air rifle mixed team event, beating Norway’s Jeanette Hegg Duestad and Jon-Hermann Hegg 16-4.
There was further medal success for China as their pairing of Han Jiayu and Du Linshu won their bronze-medal match against Keum Jihyeon and Park Hajun 17-15.
Sheng, for whom this was a third World Cup title, became the youngest winner of a shooting-sport Olympic medal when he earned silver in this event at the Tokyo 2020 Games, when he was 16 years 233 days old.
