Hungary’s 22-year old Istvan Peni won today’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men Final at the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup in New Delhi, India. He scored 459.1 points to finish atop of the scoreboard.
The Hungarian shooter is certainly one of the athletes in top shape, in this event. Ranked 6th in the world, he won the 2017 ISSF World Cup Final held here in New Delhi, and claimed a world cup medal at every stage since then.
Through today’s victory, he also secured an Olympic quota place, a ticket to Tokyo 2020. A ticket he has lost, at last year’s ISSF World Championship, where the first quotas were given out. He placed in 9th there, just outside of the medal match.
“Today’s victory feels amazing!” Peni said, right after the final. “This was my second chance - after the world championship - to win an Olympic quota place. And I made it.”
“I am extremely satisfied and happy of my results. In 2017 I won the world cup final, in 2018 I won medals at every world cup stage, and today I won the first gold medal of the season. I can’t believe what’s happening to me, it’s just great!”
“I was very happy to compete against such a strong shooter and such a good person as Kamenskiy is,” Peni continued “In the end I won by 0.1 points. You can tell that this has been a very exciting match.”
“Having a quota place for the Olympics in my pockets changes everything,” he added. “My plan was to win it as soon as possible. Now that I have it, I can concentrate on fine-tuning my equipment and my preparation on the road to Tokyo.”
“I want to test new things, and find the best receipt for the Olympics.”
The road to Tokyo is still long, tough. The Quota place is awarded to the country, not to the athlete. And Peni will have to continue performing at the top, in the next months.
“I will be at the European Championship in March, and I will then participate in all ISSF World Cups,” he confirmed.
Silver went to Rio 2016 Silver medalist Sergey Kamenskiy, 31, of the Russian Federation. The Russian shooter finished behind the winner by 0.1 points, a thin hair of difference, on a 50m rifle target. Italy’s Marco De Nicolo followed in Bronze position. De Nicolo also secured the second Tokyo 2020 spot, as Kamenskiy had already won one when he became the world champion in Changwon, last year.