DOHA, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- China's Olympic champion Sheng Lihao edged teammate Ma Sihan by one point to win the men's 10m air rifle title at the ISSF World Championships on Tuesday, claiming his first World Championship gold in the event.
Sheng scored 254.1 points to Ma's 253.1, completing a sweep of major international titles in the event. The 21-year-old had previously won the men's 10m air rifle title at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the 2024 ISSF World Cup Final, the 2023 Asian Championships, the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games and the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games.
The victory also secured a quota place for China in the men's 10m air rifle at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. The ongoing World Championships is the first competition in the qualification process for LA28.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sheng topped the qualification round with 637.2 points, averaging more than 10.6 per shot. He also helped China set a world record in the men's team event, combining with Ma and Zhang Changhong, who each scored 632.2, for a total of 1,901.6.
After leading through the first 10 shots of the final, Sheng briefly lost the top spot following the first elimination series. He responded with scores of 10.8 and 10.9 in the next series and remained in front thereafter. Holding a 0.9-point advantage over Ma heading into the final series, Sheng sealed the title with two scores of 10.7.
"I felt the competition went surprisingly smoothly, and I also saw that the other competitors put in some excellent performances," Sheng said.
Ma took silver in his World Championships debut, while Croatia's Miran Maricic claimed bronze with 229.9 points and secured an Olympic quota place for his country.
China's Zhang finished fourth, just 0.3 points off the podium, while Croatia's Josip Sikavica placed fifth. That allowed Slovakia's Patrik Jany, who finished sixth, to secure the remaining quota place, as each National Olympic Committee can win a maximum of one quota in each event at the ongoing championships.
In the women's 10m air rifle final, South Korea's Olympic champion Ban Hyo-jin staged a comeback to beat China's Han Jiayu by 0.9 points and win the title.
Ban trailed Han by 1.1 points after the opening 10 shots but steadily closed the gap in the following series, taking the lead after 20 shots. The 19-year-old maintained her momentum to claim gold with 253.1 points. Han finished second with 252.2, while her compatriot Wang Zifei climbed from eighth place to take bronze with 231.0.
Ban and Han thus secured LA28 quota places for South Korea and China, respectively, while fourth-placed Oceanne Muller earned a third quota for France.
The World Championships run through Nov. 13, with the 10m air rifle mixed team and men's 25m rapid fire pistol events scheduled for Wednesday.
