Olympic champ Sheng takes men's 10m air rifle bronze at ISSF World Cup in Munich

MUNICH, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Olympic champion Sheng Lihao of China clinched the bronze medal in the men's 10m air rifle event at the ISSF World Cup here on Thursday, winning his second World Cup medal in the 2025 season.

Sheng, who won gold at the Lima leg in April, delivered a solid performance in the qualification round with a total of 635.3 points, leading the field into the final.

In the final, however, Russian shooter Ilia Marsov surged ahead with an impressive 106.9 points after 10 shots, 1.5 points ahead of Sheng, who was then overtaken by Norway's Jon-Hermann Hegg after the two following shots in the elimination stage. Despite the Paris winner's best effort to come back, he had to settle for the third place with 230.2 points, 0.9 points behind Hegg.

Marsov, with a 1.1-point advantage in hand before the final two shots, held his nerves to claim the gold with 252.3 points overall, while Hegg bagged the silver medal with 252.0.

In the women's 50m rifle 3 positions final, Norwegian Jeanette Hegg Duestad built an early lead after kneeling and prone positions and never looked back, winning the gold medal with 466.9 points. Emely Jaeggi of Switzerland came second with 464.8 and Sift Kaur Samra of India was third with 453.1. China's Miao Wanru finished in the fifth place.

China continues to lead the medal standing after Thursday's competitions with three gold and one bronze medals, followed by Norwary with two golds and one silver.

The ISSF World Cup will continue on Friday with women's 10m air pistol and men's 25m rapid fire pistol golds up for grabs. ■