Germany makes it a hat-trick with shooting gold

Germany clinched its third Olympic shooting title in as many days on Saturday as police officer Christian Reitz won the gold medal in the 25 metre rapid fire pistol event.

Published : Aug 13, 2016 22:12 IST , Rio de Janeiro

In the eight rounds of five shots in quick succession, the world-record holding Christian Reitz proved to be a reliably steady shot, never missing more than one target in each round.
In the eight rounds of five shots in quick succession, the world-record holding Christian Reitz proved to be a reliably steady shot, never missing more than one target in each round.
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In the eight rounds of five shots in quick succession, the world-record holding Christian Reitz proved to be a reliably steady shot, never missing more than one target in each round.

Germany clinched its third Olympic shooting title in as many days on Saturday as police officer Christian Reitz won the gold medal in the 25 metre rapid fire pistol event.

Upon winning his first gold in three Olympics, the 29-year-old Reitz walked across the range to hug fellow officer Jean Quiquampoix of France, who won the silver after a thrilling shoot-off with bronze medallist Li Yuehong of China.

In the eight rounds of five shots in quick succession, the world-record holding Reitz proved to be a reliably steady shot, never missing more than one target in each round.

Quiquampoix, 20, was more of a surprise, coming up through the six finalists after a wobbly start and scoring several perfect rounds of five.

Before stepping up to the podium to receive his gold medal, Reitz went around the front to congratulate the silver and bronze medallists. He had won bronze in Beijing in 2008.

With their success, the German winners have proven to be a big draw at home on television. Germany's Henri Junghaenel won gold in 50 metre rifle prone on Friday and Barbara Engleder took gold in the women's 50 metre rifle three positions on Thursday.

China's Zhang Fusheng, the 22-year-old world number one started out strong but crumbled midway through in his first Olympics, finishing fourth.

Defending Olympic champion and five-time Olympian Leuris Pupo of Cuba finished fifth.

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