Belarus’ Illia Charheika has claimed the first ISSF World Cup gold medal of his career ©ISSF

Belarus’ Illia Charheika claimed the first International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup gold medal of his career after winning the men’s 10 metres air rifle event in Munich today.

The 25-year-old scored 249.5 points to beat Rio 2016 bronze medallist Vladimir Maslennikov of Russia by a margin of 0.7 at the German city’s Olympian Schiessanlage.

Charheika, ranked 18th in the world in the event, had previously gained European Junior Championship junior in 2010 and 2011, as well as a Youth Olympic Games silver medal in 2010.

Maslennikov’s second-place finish, with 248.8 points, saw him claim his second ISSF World Cup silver medal of the season having also taken the runners-up spot in Changwon in South Korea last month.

Chinese Taipei’s Lu Shao-Chuan, taking part in his first World Cup final match, survived a shoot-off against Croatia’s Petar Gorsa to climb onto the podium.

Russia's Vladimir Maslennikov finished a close second to take the silver medal ©ISSF
Russia's Vladimir Maslennikov finished a close second to take the silver medal ©ISSF

With 227.9 points, the 21-year-old athlete collected the bronze medal, leaving his Croatian opponent in fourth place with 206.9 points.

Serbia’s Milenko Sebic finished in fifth spot with 186.0 points, while Russia’s Sergey Kamenskiy, the silver medallist in yesterday’s men’s 50m rifle three positions event, came sixth with 164.3 points.

Austria’s Martin Strempfl and Slovakia’s Patrik Jany occupied seventh and eighth place respectively.

Strempfl managed 143.9 points, while Jany ended up on 121.9. 

Action in Munich is due to continue tomorrow with finals scheduled to take place in the women’s 50m rifle three positions, women’s 10m air pistol and men’s 25m rapid fire pistol events.