Sharpshooter Zhu claims fourth consecutive title

MILAN - Chinese sharpshooter Zhu Qinan came from behind to clinch the fourth consecutive title of the men’s 10-meter air rifle at the Milan shooting World Cup.

Zhu, the gold medallist of the Athens Olympics in 2004 and runner-up at the Beijing Games 2008, shot down his second gold medal of the season with an advantage of 0.3 points from the 10-shot final round here Saturday.

“It’s my fourth consecutive win here in Milan, so I am happy,” said Zhu, raising four fingers after the final.

“However, the scores are not very good. I won thanks to others’ mistakes.”

Artur Aivazian of Ukraine took the silver medal with a total score of 698.8 points followed by Henri Hakkinen of Finland on 697.6 points.

Zhu, 24, was also unsatisfied with the performance of the qualification round, where he had his lowest score in the four legs of World Cup this year.

“I shot three nines in the first 30 shots, then I stopped and sat there for five minutes, asking myself what I was doing here,” said Zhu.

“I knew the desire to win a fourth time had pushed me too much, so I told myself to take it easy. Why not lose here this year? Then next year I could start again from nothing,” he said.

He shot only one nine-point after going back to the shooting position.

After losing twice at her home soil, German veteran Sonja Pfeilschifer won the women’s 10-meter air rifle by a total of 502.0 points.

Standing on the first position of the final with one point ahead, the world record holder kept her leading position from the beginning to the end, grabbing the gold by 0.5 points.

Petra Zublasing, the 19-year-old Italian debutant, won the silver medal on the last shot by a 10.6-point, only 0.1 point ahead of Chinese youngster Xie Jieqiong, 19, who won a silver medal also in her debut in Changwon World Cup this year.

The Milan World Cup is the fourth leg of the year for the ten Olympic shooting events of rifle and pistol.