It took until the last shot of the day for the 2004 10m air rifle Olympic champion to seal the deal against his Russian counterpart and it was the first major win for the Chinese athlete in this event, after finishing the 2010 Asian Championships in third and the 2012 Olympics in fifth.

Zhu finished with a total 457.2 points to edge Kamenskiy, winner of this year's International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup stage in Maribor.

There was just 0.3 points separating the two shooters heading into the final shot, with Zhu's 10.3 enough to settle the encounter as the Russian fired 9.4.

Third place went to Belarus' Vitali Bubnovich as he finished on 443.6 points to add a second bronze medal of the World Championships.

Reigning Olympic champion Niccolò Campriani secured a Rio 2016 berth despite finishing the final in last ©Getty Images



Reigning Olympic champion Niccolò Campriani of Italy ensured a berth at Rio 2016 despite finishing the final in last place.

Due to the fact that Bubnovich, Kamenskiy and sixth placed Nazar Louginets of Russia had already won a slot at Rio 2016 in other events here in Granada, all other finalists received a ticket to the Olympic Games.

The team gold medal ended up in the hands of China as the nation totalled a score of 3,497.

Norway followed in second thanks to a seventh place finish by Are Hansen in the final, while Russia, who had both Kamenskiy and Louginets in the final, rounded off the podium in third.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
September 2014: South Korean takes surprise gold at Shooting World Championships
September 2014: South Korean Jin wins second gold at Shooting World Championships
September 2014: China's Zhang overcomes South Korean Olympic gold medallist for victory at Shooting World Championships
September 2014: South Korean breaks 34-year-old world record to take gold at Shooting World Championships
September 2014: China's Yang follows Youth Olympic gold with another title on opening day of Shooting World Championships