The Chinese youngster topped the podium at the CEAR de Tiro Olimpico Juan Carlos I with a score of 207.9 points to finish 1.9 ahead of second-placed man Nazar Louginets of Russia, with bronze going to Belarusian Vitali Bubnovic.

Russia's Sergey Kruglov, China's Cao Yifei and Frenchman Jeremy Monnier completed the top-six and all secured automatic qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

But it was Yang who was the star of the show, as he recovered from a slow start to rocket up the leaderboard, nailing a series of exceptional shots to fire his way to his first world title and complete a successful few weeks after claiming gold on home soil at Nanjing 2014.

"The World Championship is a huge competition," said Yang.

"The best shooters of the world are here.

"I felt the pressure of the match at the beginning of the final, but then I zeroed in and I was able to climb up on top.

"I am honoured that I claimed the first Olympic quota for my country."

Yang stands atop the podium in Granada and is one of six shooters to book a place at Rio 2016 ©ISSF/Michael Schreiber



Louginets also continued a good run of form with his silver medal to add to International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup wins in Beijing and Fort Benning in the United States.

"It has been a good year for me, nevertheless I feel sorry for today's final," said the 25-year-old afterwards.

"I wanted to win it, but I made a mistake, and there's no room for mistakes at this level."

The exploits of Yang and Cao along with compatriot Liu Tanyou helped China to also win the 10m air rifle team gold in Granada with a world record score of 1886.5 points.

Russia and Belarus claimed the silver and bronze medals.

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