Olympic bronze medalist Lee Meng-yuan has become the first Taiwanese athlete to top the International Shooting Sport Federation’s (ISSF) men’s skeet world rankings, while top Taiwanese shooters won golds in each of yesterday’s finals in Taoyuan.
Lee’s 6,610 points put him ahead of fellow men’s skeet medalists from the Paris Olympics Americans Vincent Hancock and Conner Prince.
Lee on Monday said that he was surprised by the result, although he had expected his ranking to rise after the Games, which was also the first time a Taiwanese athlete had competed in men’s skeet.
Photo: Reuters
Despite topping the rankings, Lee said he believed Hancock, who won gold in Paris, was likely still the stronger athlete.
“I’m No. 1 probably because I participated in more international tournaments this year and finished with good results,” he said.
Lee finished first at the Asian Championships in Kuwait in January and fifth at the World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan, in May.
Photo: CNA
The son of international-level sharpshooter Hsieh Chih-pei, Lee first represented Taiwan at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, when he was 15.
Lee is this week competing at the Taipei International Grand Prix Rifle at the National Shooting Training Base Gongxi Shooting Range in Taoyuan, which started on Saturday last week and ends on Monday next week.
The event — the first-ever top-tier ISSF Grand Prix tournament held in Taiwan — features 140 athletes from 10 countries competing for multiple titles.
All eight Taiwanese Olympians from Paris are competing at the tournament, including Wu Chia-ying, who won gold in the women’s 10m air pistol event on Monday.
Yesterday, Paris Olympian Yang Kun-pi won the men’s trap with 45 points, beating out Italy’s Massimo Fabbrizi, who had 43 points.
In women’s trap, Paris Olympian Liu Wan-yu edged Australia’s Kiara Sioux-lin Dean for the gold, while fellow Olympian Lin Yi-chun took bronze.
Liu and Dean were tied with 40 at the end of the final, forcing a shoot-out.
In the 10m air pistol mixed team event, 17-year-old Cheng yen-ching and partner Chang Lu beat Singapore’s Shirlene Hew Yun Ting and Jia En Teo for the gold medal, while Sung Yu-ting and her brother Sung Chia-yen defeated Singapore’s Hong An Tong and Irna Qistina Binte Noorazlin to win the gold medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team event.
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