HANGZHOU, July 22 (Xinhua) -- China's Olympic champions Sheng Lihao and Zhang Changhong secured a one-two finish in the men's 10-meter air rifle final as the ISSF World Cup opened in Hangzhou on Wednesday.
Sheng, a two-time gold medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, topped qualification with 637.5 points before carrying that form into the final. The 21-year-old led from the opening series and was never seriously challenged, finishing with 253.9 points to claim his 12th ISSF World Cup title.
The victory was Sheng's first World Cup gold medal on home soil.
"This is a historic title for me. Competing at home made me feel very comfortable and at ease," he said.
Zhang, the Tokyo Olympic champion in the men's 50-meter rifle three positions, arrived in Hangzhou after winning gold at the previous World Cup stop. After narrowly advancing to the eight-man final, he delivered a composed performance to take silver with 252.4 points.
"Overall, I think I performed quite well. My qualification performance was a little below par today, and I didn't compete at the level I'm capable of," Zhang said.
Sweden's Victor Lindgren denied China a podium sweep by edging Ma Sihan for bronze by 0.2 points.
Earlier on Wednesday, China's reigning world champions Yao Qianxun and Hu Kai set world records in both qualification and the final to win the 10-meter air pistol mixed team event.
After setting a new qualification record of 591 points earlier in the day, the duo scored 488.4 points in the final, surpassing the previous world record of 487.7 set by India's Palak Palak and Mukesh Nelavalli in April.
The Hangzhou World Cup runs through July 28. The women's 50-meter rifle three positions and the men's and women's skeet titles will be contested on Thursday. ■
