The 26-year-old South Korean was far from the favourite coming into the contest, having only competed at international level on two previous occasions, at the 2007 Asian Championship in Kuwait City, where she finished 13th, and at an International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup stage in Sydney in 2010, where she came fifth.

Her limited experience did nothing to defer the South Korean, however, as she scored 197.4 points to overcome one of the most titled pistol shooters of the world, Kostevych, the 2004 Olympic champion and a two-time bronze medallist from London 2012.

The Ukrainian finished in second with 196.7 points, after firing a frustrating 8.4 shot in the last part of the match, while Wu Chia Ying of Chinese Taipei joined them on the podium, claiming the bronze with 177.0.

In total six shooters qualified for Rio 2016 with one, 48-year-old Jasna Sekaric of Serbia, set to make an eighth appearance at an Olympic Games, a record for female shooters.

Sekaric's performance helped Serbia to the team title, ahead of China and Hungary.

Serbia's Jasna Sekaric booked her spot for what is set to be a record eighth Olympic Games appearance after finishing seventh in the 10m air pistol at the Shooting World Championships ©Getty Images



The women's 50m rifle 3 positions also brought a surprise victor as Germany's Beate Gauss claimed her first World Championship medal with a brilliant performance on the range.

The German shooter, ranked 49th in the world, scored 456.6 points across the three positions to climb atop the podium, beating her nearest rival, Snejezana Pejcic, by just 1.5 points.

Norway's 20-year old Malin Westerheim finished in the bronze medal position with 444.7 points.

"It feels amazing," said Gauss.

"This is my major win.

"I finished twice in second at the Europeans in the 10m air rifle event, but I had never won a medal in the 50m 3 positions event, before.

"When I arrived in Granada, I immediately had good feelings about the range.

"I knew I could shoot well here."

"I focused on myself and tried not to think about the crowd of spectators. I managed to stay focused, shot after shot, and I made it."

Gauss' impressive score led Germany to a world-record total of 1,750 en route to gold in the team competition, fending off challenges from China and South Korea, who finished second and third respectively.

Katrin Quooss added more delight for Germany as she secured gold in the women's trap contest at the expense of local favourite Fatima Galvez.

Both competitors had secured a spot in the final with perfect scores in the semi-final, however, it was the German who came out on top in the all-important encounter as she made 13 hits to the Spaniard's 12.

Australia's Catherine Skinner beat Germany's Jana Beckamnn 13 to 10 to secure bronze.

Despite the loss, Beckamnn still earned gold as she, Quooss and Christiane Goehring topped the team competition.

Italy finished with silver while bronze was picked up by Spain.

Katrin Quooss added a second gold for Germany as she secured gold in the women's trap competition ©ISSF



Two junior world champions were also crowned as Russia's Yulia Tugolukova secured gold in the women's junior trap contest and Lin Yuemei of China took top honours in the women's 10m air pistol competition.

Tugolukova's win came courtesy of Italy's Valeria Raffaelli after the Russian was successful in the opening shoot-off attempt following an even contest over the initial 30 targets.

Lisa Nicole Marzo ensured an Italian two, three as she pulled through her bronze medal playoff with this result ensuring team gold for the Italians.

China followed in second while Russia rounded off the podium in third.

Lin's gold also came in a tight encounter as she nudged passed Russia's Vitalina Batsarashkina with a brilliant penultimate shot of 10.8 to overturn a 0.1 deficit.

Greece's Anna Korakaki finished slightly behind the leaders in third.

Team gold was earned by Poland, who finished on 1,134 points, with Russia and China coming in second and third respectively.

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