Felipe Almeida Wu of Brazil, Jitu Rai of India and Jin Jong-oh of Korea stood on the three slots on the medal podium in the Men’s 10 M Air Pistol at Baku in the ISSF World Cup.
The event which is the biggest stage tournament before the Olympics saw Felipe collect the men’s 10m Air Pistol gold medal, reaching another important milestones ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. The 24-year old athlete, ranked 5th in the world, and the highest ranked Brazilian, had also won the first world cup stage of the season, in Bangkok, Thailand.
Wu started off the final with a disappointing 8.5 in his first series. But soon he recovered, and after the 12th shot he had already reached the top of the scoreboard. Shooting consistently, he defended the lead, keeping India’s Jitu Rai and Korea’s Jin Jongoh behind him, to close the match in first place with 200.0 points. Rai, 28, finished in second place with 199.5 points. The three-time Olympic champion Jin, 36, followed him in third place with 178.8 points, collecting his second medal in a row, following yesterday’s 50m Pistol Men Gold.
For Rai, this silver will work as a much needed motivation before the Rio Games, recent outings haven’t been that great for the Indian shooter who was till sometimes back- World No. 1 in ISSF rankings.
Speaking about the win, Wu said, “Right at the beginning of the final I made a couple of mistakes again, but I was able to control myself and that gave me confidence. We have the Olympic Games in front of us, and learning to control my emotions is crucial.”
“I am doing the best I can to prepare for Rio 2016. These months have been really stressful, we have been traveling a lot, but I hope that all the hard work will pay off, at the end. I think I will be more calm during the Games,”he concluded with.