China at the double on fourth day of ISSF World Cup

China claimed two gold medals on the fourth day of the ISSF World Cup in Gabala ©ISSF

China were the dominant country on the fourth day of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup in Gabala as Mai Jiajie claimed gold in the men’s 50 metres pistol event before compatriot Cao Lijia reigned supreme in the women’s 25 metres pistol competition.

Mai, who had never won a World Cup stage before, produced a solid performance in Azerbaijan's most ancient city to take the title with a total of 194.7 points ahead of South Korea's Park Dae-hun and Kim Cheong-yon.

The 2013 Asian champion had earlier recorded a score of 565 in the qualification round and he was able to replicate that form in the final, securing his maiden ISSF World Cup gold, edging Park, winner of the event at the Universiade in Gwangju last month, by 3.3 points.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Games quota spots in the event went to Spain’s Pablo Carrera, who was fifth, and eighth-place Prakash Nanjappa of India.

Following Mai’s triumph, 18-year-old Chinese shooter Cao Lijia secured her country's second gold medal of the day, beating Russia's Vitalina Batsarashkina 7-1 in the final of the women’s 25m pistol event.

Batsarashkina, nevertheless, claimed a Rio 2016 quota spot for her country by virtue of clinching the silver medal, while Cao’s teammate and reigning world champion Zhang Jingjing continued the excellent display from the Chinese competitors by securing the final place on the podium.

Mongolia's 2013 Asian Champion Munkhzul Tsogbadrakh, who finished sixth, also did enough to earn a Rio 2016 quota berth.

2008 Olympic champion of American returned to the top of the podium with gold in the men's double trap event — America's Beijing 2008 gold medallist Walton Eller returned to the top of the podium with gold in the men's double trap ©ISSF

In the other final to take place today, 2008 Olympic champion Walton Eller of the United States sealed gold in the men’s double trap competition with victory over Britain’s Steven Scott in the final.

Eller, the current world champion, had to get past Germany's Michael Goldbrunner in a semi-final shoot-off after five athletes all finished having hit 29 targets.

In his accuracy proved too good for Scott as the American managed 30, four more than his British opponent.

Russia's Vasily Mosin did enough to ensure he took home the bronze, overcoming Goldbrunner in the third-place play-off.

Scott’s silver medal earned Britain a Rio 2016 quota and although he did not claim a podium finish, Goldbrunner’s fourth place handed Germany the second available Rio 2016 quota spot.

“It's been a while since I've been up on the top of the podium, so it's nice to be back,” Eller said.

“It puts me in a great spot for Rio and hopefully I can just keep doing what I'm doing.

“I knew I had the ability to win a gold as I've been shooting really great scores in the last two to three years.

“It's just that sometimes it's tough: you got a lot of great competitors out here.”

The event in Gabala is due to continue tomorrow with the men’s 50m rifle prone and 25m rapid fire pistol finals.