China claims six gold medals at Shooting World Cup

The awarding ceremony (Photo credit: China Foto Press)Photo Gallery>>(BEIJING, April 20) -- Chinese veteran Qu Ridong defeated the current world record holder, Vincent Hancock of the United States, with a total score of 144, winning the last gold medal at the Good Luck Beijing 2008 ISSF World Cup on Sunday, April 20, at the Beijing Shooting Range CTF.

Amid heavy rain on the last competition day, Qu, the 2006 Qingyuan World Cup champion, shot down the last gold in the Men's Skeet event for the host team. Russian Konstantin Tsuranov won a silver medal with a score of 143, followed by Andrea Filippetti of Italy with 143.

Frustrated by continuous misplay in the afternoon's final, the 19-year-old Hancock, the top seed qualifier, dropped out of gold medal contention and placed fourth.

Earlier in the afternoon, another young French shooter, Josselin Henry, surprisingly earned the Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions title and helped bring France just behind host China in the medal tally with three gold medals. Russia followed with two.

"Chinese people would be very happy because they are doing an excellent job," said ISSF Vice President Medhat Wahdan after the final competition. He was particularly satisfied with the green energy applied at the event.