Feng and Peter irresistible in Doha World Cup Final 25m pistol events

China’s 21-year-old Sixuan Feng and Germany’s 23-year-old Florian Peter proved unstoppable in thewomen’s 25m pistol and men’s 25m rapid fire pistol respectively at the Doha World Cup Final.

Feng, 21 and ranked fourth in the world, had finished four points clear in qualifying with a total of 590 at the world-class Lusail Sports Arena.

She produced a similar effect in the final as she totalled 37 points, six clear of Germany’s world champion and world No.1 Doreen Vennekamp, with her 19-year-old compatriot Zhao Nan taking bronze.

Vennekamp, 28, had reached the concluding batch of five shots trailing her Chinese rival by two points, and it proved too much of a stretch as she missed all five to take a silver as opposed to a golden trophy with a final score of 31, shaking her head with a rueful smile.

Hungary’s Veronika Major was the unlucky athlete to exit in fourth place.

Peter, the top qualifier, made a stupendous start in the men’s final, getting halfway to beating the world record of 39 out of 40 set by China’s Li Yuehong in winning world gold in Baku in August as he scored with his first 20 shots.

He was never headed from start to finish.

Given the requirements of the discipline – with just four seconds allowed for each batch of five shots, which had to score at least 9.7 points to register as a hit – it was a tremendous performance.

But the amiable German, who took bronze in Baku, was not able to maintain perfection, dropping a shot in his fifth sequence and two more in the next to reach 27 out of 30.

A second successive five out of five brought Li level with the German on 27, but Peter – who made regular entries in his notebook between each batch of shots – responded ideally to score a maximum on his penultimate phase, while Li faltered with three misses.
Peter thus carried a lead of three into the final sequence, and scored the three he required to secure victory with a total of 35, with Li concluding the event with a score of four to reach 33.

After scoring only two in his sixth sequence of shots to total 23 out of 30, India’s 21-year-old Anish Anish looked likely to be the unlucky fourth-placed shooter as the Czech Republic’s Matej Rampula, a superior qualifier, required only to score one hit to his tally of 22.

To his dismay, however, Rampula, who had shot so consistently up to this point, failed to score a single shot and made an unhappy exit, leaving the Indian to celebrate becoming the first man from his country to finish in the top three in this event in a World Cup Final.

Earlier France’s world No.2 Clement Bessaguet, who has won two world silvers in the past two years, made an unexpectedly earlier exit as he finished fifth out of the six finalists.

Asked by ISSF TV about what he was noting down between his shooting sequences, Peter replied:

“The scores, the timing of the first, and little notes like when I am too slow on the first shot or too hot on the trigger.

“So it helps me to analyse the series so I can do it better in the next series.

“It helps me to stay focused and not be distracted by the surroundings – so a double benefit for me.”

On the question of whether his hopes were beginning to rise for a world record when he reached the halfway point without blemish, he added:

“To be honest I didn’t expect too much from the World Cup Final because I just started training rapid fire pistol again one week ago. After the World Championship I had a two-month break and some altitude training so I was just starting over again.

“So I am happily surprised by the result of this competition!
“Now I will keep on training and preparing for the qualification competitions for the Olympic Games.”

Li commented graciously – and in English: “Actually I did everything well but Peter did a very good job, so for today it was OK.”

Anish was exuberant after his bronze. “I was winning junior medals a lot, but this has been a really great year for me, “ he said. 

“I won a first World Cup medal and recently won a quota place for the Paris 2024 Olympics and now here its a first medal in the World Cup Final.

“It’s a huge achievement for me, I am really happy, really blessed with the support I am getting from my federation and coaches.

“I feel this is just the beginning, I am progressing and learning from the senior shooters and the coaches and I am really aiming high for the coming years.

“Our whole national team in shooting is doing great, winning medals in the World Championship and World Cups. I am also contributing to it now so I am really happy. It’s the first ever Indian medal in the World Cup final in rapid fire.”
 

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