Matsuda finished top of the men's 10 metres air pistol competition after a fierce battle against Vietnam's Olympic champion Hoang Xuan Vinh at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.

The two experienced shooters were level throughout the competition until the final shot when Matsuda gained a narrow advantage which gave him the title.

With a score of 240.1 points, the Japanese shooter set an air pistol world record.

He had won his last ISSF World Cup gold medal in this event six years ago in Sydney.

Rio 2016 gold medallist Hoang followed him in second with 236.6 points.

Much to the delight of the home crowd, Jitu Rai of India fired two consecutive 10.6s towards the end of the competition that lifted him into third place with a total tally of 216.7 points.

Yamashita secured a Japanese double when he won the 50m rifle three positions final.

As the first of the new Olympic cycle leading to Tokyo 2020, many teams identified this World Cup stage as a chance to introduce their young athletes. 

It appeared a success today as four out of the eight rifle prone finalists had never appeared in an ISSF World Cup final before.

One of them, 19-year old Liu Yukun of China, challenged the experienced Yamashita right to the last shot.

The two athletes were neck and neck throughout the second half of the final, exchanging first and second places. 

After shot 18 they were tied but Liu soon moved into the lead by 0.4 points.

Two shots later, Yamashita overtook him by 0.1, to then seal the victory at shot 24 with a 10.5 and a total tally of 249.8 points, a world record.

Liu was left in second place 0.5 points behind, setting the new junior world record with 249.3.

Two other first-time participants, Daniel Romanczyk of Poland and He Denghua of China secured third and fourth, with 226.6 and 205.7 points, respectively.

Action is due to continue in New Delhi tomorrow with the 25m women's pistol, the men's 50m pistol and the women's skeet competitions.