Victory for ELEY athletes in New Delhi

New Delhi, India welcomed the world’s elite athletes to the first ISSF World Cup of 2017. Returning to the country after a break of 14 years, the host nation greeted the shooters in style with a dance-filled opening ceremony. The contest was characterised by comebacks, clashes between youth and experience, and ELEY supremacy with 78% of medals.

The Men’s 3P match saw Hui from China back in 7th position after the Kneeling Series, but he began the comeback during the Prone and Standing shots. As World Cup debutant and leader Sun Jian faltered, Hui finished on a 10.6 to take the Gold medal from his teammate, proving the importance of experience. Lochbihler from Switzerland put in a career-best performance to earn the Bronze medal. All three shooters used ELEY tenex. The Women’s 3P followed, and another all-ELEY podium was led by Zhang from China. She climbed to the top spot during the final standing series, and took the Gold despite a tense 9.3 final shot. Ser from Singapore finished in second place, trailed by Germany’s Roesken.

In the 50m Prone match Japan’s Yamashita (39), held off the Asian Champion Liu (19) after an exciting match which went down to the final shot. The two traded the lead back and forth, until Yamashita shot a 10.5 to secure victory, with Liu just 0.5 points behind. It was an impressive performance from the young Chinese shooter in his first World Cup. Romanczk from Poland, also participating for the first time, won Bronze. All eight finalists used ELEY tenex. Thailand were victorious in the Women’s 25m Pistol final, as the ELEY-shooting Yangpaiboon controlled the match to finish with an 8 point lead. She recorded 38 hits, with her nearest opponent the 2014 World Champion Zhang from China. Skeries from Germany took Bronze.The closing match of the competition was the 50m Pistol, with all 8 finalists using ELEY tenex, and India’s Rai and Singh winning Gold and Silver for the host nation. After a slow start Rai came close to being eliminated, but drew on his vast experience to begin the fight back. He consistently hit the middle of the target to overtake his competitors one by one. Eventually just his teammate Singh remained, and Rai scored a 10.5 to take the lead and the Gold medal. Singh followed in second and Iran’s Golkhandan in third.