Dubai France bagged both the medals on offer on the second day of the Fifth World University Shooting Sport Championship (WSC) that concludes in Al Ain on Sunday.
France and South Korea had dominated the opening day with four medals each but Friday belonged to France as they walked away with the team and individual gold in the men’s 50m rifle prone competition.
Leading France was Alexis Raynaud as he shot for the individual gold with a total of 206.1 points followed by Germany’s Henri Junghanel with a total of 204.3, while Sweden opened its account while taking the bronze through Sam Andersson.
Etienne Germond of France missed out on an individual medal, but his contribution was vital for his country doing a double in the team competition. Brian Baudoin was the third shooter for the French in the team competition.
Riding on Junghanel’s performance, Germany took the silver in the team competition as well, with Dominik Boschendrieder and Axel Muller coming in handy. Poland claimed the team bronze ahead of the trio from South Korea.
France now leads the medals standings with three gold, two silver and one bronze, followed by Germany with one gold, two silver and a bronze and South Korea with a gold and silver and three bronze medals.
Maximum entry
Held under the patronage of Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, under the aegis of the International University Sports Federation (FISU), the competition attracted 320 shooters from 29 countries including the hosts.
Each country is allowed a maximum entry of 36 shooters in the four different disciplines of rifle, pistol, skeet and trap over five days of competition. As hosts, the UAE is fielding only 18 shooters in the four categories where medals will be awarded for individual and team competitions.
Shooting is one of the youngest sports in the history of FISU following its debut in Pilsen, Czech Republic in 2003. Shooters from Slovakia dominated winning a total of 14 medals — six gold and four each of silver and bronze.
