China's Huang Xiaomin struck gold in the men’s junior double trap event at the ISSF Shotgun World Championships ©ISSF

China's Huang Xiaomin won men’s junior double trap gold at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Shotgun World Championships in Lonato, securing his first-ever medal on his international competition debut. 

The 19-year-old beat Russia’s Kirill Fokeev in the gold medal match, claiming a 28-27 victory after a topsy-turvy encounter. 

Fokeev took an early lead after three doubles, and although Huang caught up, the Russian reclaimed first place with the score at 17-16 with just six doubles left.

Huang fought back again though, shooting perfectly as Fokeev missed one target to level the scores at 22-22 going into the final three doubles of the match

Out of the next six targets, Fokeev missed one, while Huang was perfect once more to seal top honours.

"I feel very happy and satisfied about my result," said Huang.

"I was very nervous about the final.

"But I tried my best to reach the best result."

Huang’s gold was his country’s third individual medal of the Championships, following Che Yufei’s triumph in the women's junior skeet and Wei Ning’s third-place finish in the women’s skeet, both yesterday.

Huang Xiaomin celebrates his men’s junior double trap triumph
Huang Xiaomin celebrates his men’s junior double trap triumph ©ISSF/Twitter

There was further disappointment for Russia in the bronze medal match as Kamil Khusaenov lost out to Great Britain’s James Conner Gorsuch.

Gorsuch took the lead when Khusaenov missed his 14th target, and from then on the two shooters only missed one target each, both in the second-last double.

Holding onto his one-target margin, Gorsuch closed in first to win 27-26 and claim his maiden podium finish.  

Italy ended on 393 targets to win gold in the team competition, with Jacopo Dal Moro’s 134 being added to by Ignazio Tronca's 131 and Lorenzo Ferrari's 128.

Fokeev, Khusaenov and Viacheslav Yukhimenko scored 387 targets between them to take silver for Russia, while Shiqi Zhao and Jinzhan Cai combined with Huang to score 378 for bronze medallists China.

Following two rest days, the action in Lonato is set to conclude on Thursday (September 17) with the men’s skeet and men’s junior skeet events both scheduled to take place.



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