China's Pei medals at shooting World Cup final

PUTIAN, China - China's Pei Ruijiao came from behind to capture a silver medal with 457.4 points in the women's 50m rifle three positions at the ISSF World Cup final here on Tuesday, with Seonaid Mcintosh of Britain claiming gold with 462.1 points.

The 23-year-old Pei ranked only 7th in the kneeling phase with 150.4 points, before bouncing back strongly in prone and standing positions, while world No.1 Mcintosh took the gold with a consistently strong performance throughout the event.

"I was a little bit nervous in the beginning and couldn't fully concentrate, so I didn't shoot well initially," rued Pei. The 2014 Youth Olympic champion then scored the highest 157 points in the prone position, rising up to fourth place, just 0.2 points away from the podium.

In the final five shots of the event, when Mcintosh led with big advantage to secure the win, Pei was involved in a tight duel with Nina Christen of Switzerland and Croatia's Snjezana Pejcic.

Pejcic and Christen both made errors in their last shots as they hit 8.8 and 8.9 points respectively, allowing Pei to take second place. Christen claimed bronze with 449.1 points.

"I rose up to the challenge and cut the deficit gradually. I was satisfied with the results since I performed my best by the end of the event," said Pei, adding that she would analyze proceedings carefully and try her best at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In the men's 50m rifle three positions, Filip Nepejchal of the Czech Republic broke the world junior record with 462.9 points to take gold, while Serbian shooter Milenko Sebic finished second with 461.5 points. Sergey Kamenskiy of Russia ranked third with 449.8 points.