China's Du Linshu wins men's 50m rifle 3 positions at ISSF Bhopal World Cup

NEW DELHI, March 25 (Xinhua) -- China's Du Linshu added a men's 50m rifle 3 positions gold on Saturday to his 10m air rifle silver at the ISSF World Cup in Bhopal, India.

Collecting five gold and two silver medals at last year's junior world championships, 19-year-old Du led the ranking match with 410.7 points, followed by Hungary's two-time Olympian Istvan Peni with 408.2. Swiss veteran Jan Lochbihler finished third, 0.8 points behind Peni.

In the gold medal match, Du had an early 8-2 lead and the two traded points in the next four shots. Peni put up a comeback effort winning four points in a row to trail 12-10, but Du held his nerve to shoot for a 10.8 for the match point and closed the match with a 10.3 to Peni's 10.1.

In the women's 25m pistol competition, China's Du Ziyue and Xiong Yaxuan finished in the top two in the same ranking match and reached the medal match alongside world bronze medalist Doreen Vennekamp of Germany and Manu Bhaker of India.

Vennekamp started strong in the final with a five-hit series and led the field ever to claim the title with 30 hits. Du had the chance to force a shoot-off when Vennekamp made only two hits in the last series, but the 15-year-old missed twice and had to settle for a silver with 29 hits. Bhaker came from behind to edge out Xiong and bag a bronze.

After Saturday's matches, China led the medal tally with six gold, two silver and two bronze medals, followed by India and Germany.

The Bhopal World Cup will conclude on Sunday with the women's 50m rifle 3 positions and men's 25m rapid fire pistol golds up for grabs.