CAIRO, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- London Olympic champion Kim Jang-mi of South Korea beat China's Chen Yan in the final series to win women's 25m pistol gold medal at the World Championships here on Saturday.
The World Championships is also a qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with four quota places available in each Olympic individual event.
Kim, who turned 30 last month, was trailing Chen by 27-28 before the last five shots in the final duel. She took advantage of the two missing shots of her rival to turn the tables 30-29 before holding her nerves to make the last two hits for the gold 32-31.
This was the first world title for the two-time Olympian, and the second gold medal for South Korea at the 2022 World Championships. 24-year-old Chen, in her first worlds appearance, had to settle for a silver, but enough to earn China's seventh Paris 2024 quota place in shooting so far.
Doreen Vennekamp, who had already won a quota place for Germany after her European Championships victory, finished third. This enabled Haniyeh Rostamiyan from Iran to qualify for the Paris Games, as one athlete could only earn one quota place for their National Olympic Committee.
In the men's 50m three positions competition, Ukraine's three-time Olympian Serhiy Kulish beat Pole Tomasz Bartnik 16-6 to win the gold medal. Jon-Hermann Hegg, who already secured a Paris quota for Norway in the European Championships, finished third ahead of Swapnil Kusale of India.
Liu Yukun, top finisher in qualification, obtained a quota for China despite a disappointing fifth-place finish in the ranking match.
The remaining four quota places available at the 2022 World Championships will be allocated in the men's 25m rapid fire pistol event on Sunday. ■
