Source: People's Daily
The picture shows Miao Wanru of the Chinese team in the women's 50-meter rifle three-position competition at the 2022 Shooting (Step Pistol) World Championships. Photo by Ahmed Goma (issued by Xinhua News Agency)
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Entering the Paris Olympic cycle, the International Shooting Sports Federation has made several changes to the competition rules, increasing the contingency of the competition. The Chinese team actively adapted to the new rules and played well at the 2022 World Shooting (Rifle Pistol) Championships, showing overall strength and youthful vitality.
On October 28, local time, the 2022 Shooting (Rifle Pistol) World Championships ended in Cairo, Egypt. In this competition for places in the Paris Olympics, the Chinese shooting team handed over a brilliant report card: won 4 golds, 3 silvers and 3 bronzes in 10 Olympic events, and fully qualified for the 8 Olympic Games produced by this World Championships.
"We achieved our goals, the players performed well, and while achieving excellent results, they also showed a good mental outlook and tenacious will." Wang Lian, deputy director of the Shooting and Archery Sports Management Center of the State General Administration of Sports, believes that focusing on the Paris Olympics, this competition has gained a lot.
Became the only team to qualify for eight Olympic Games at the World Championships
This World Championships is the first Olympic qualification tournament for the Chinese shooting rifle team to participate in the Paris Olympic cycle. According to the rules, the World Championships have 10 Olympic events, of which 8 individual events each produce 4 Olympic qualifications, a total of 32; Each association can get a maximum of 1 seat per event, that is, each association can qualify for up to 8 Olympic Games in this World Championship. The Chinese team became the only team to qualify for eight Olympic Games at this World Championships.
The World Championships were divided into two categories, the senior category and the youth category, with a total of 68 gold medals, and each team sent a strong team to participate. In the fierce competition, the Chinese team players each qualified for the Olympic events in the Olympic events such as men's and women's 10-meter air pistols, air rifles, men's and women's 50-meter rifles, men's 25-meter pistol rapid fire and women's 25-meter pistols. In addition, the team also won the team championships such as the 10-meter air rifle mixed team and the men's 25-meter pistol rapid-fire team. Zhao Yuqing, the leader of the Chinese pistol team, said: "This shows that our lineup still has a certain thickness. ”
In the competition, the young players of the Chinese team performed eye-catchingly. According to statistics, there are 24 athletes in the adult group in the team, and 13 first-time participants and post-00 players. The players showed composure and dared to compete and withstood the test of the competition. 16-year-old Huang Yuting is the youngest player on the team, and in the 10m air rifle mixed team gold medal race, she hit only 2 shots under 10.5 rings in 11 shots, and her partner Yang Haoran successfully won the championship. In the women's 50-meter rifle three-position gold medal competition, 22-year-old Miao Wanru stabilized her mentality and clenched the score when she was behind at the start, and finally overtook her opponent 17:13 to win the gold medal.
In the end, the Chinese team won 27 golds, 16 silvers and 15 bronzes, leading the overall gold medal standings, with more gold medals than the second to fifth places combined. "By participating in international competitions, the young players have been trained and gained experience, and the results of this trip are not only in terms of results." Wang Lian said.
More than half of the post-00 players in the training lineup formed a healthy competition
At last year's Tokyo Olympics, the Chinese shooting rifle team won 4 gold medals and fought a beautiful battle. After the Olympic Games, due to various factors, the team did not participate in international competitions for more than a year. In this case, how to maintain a high level of training?
Wang Lian said that maintaining healthy competition within the team and benchmarking against international training standards is an important reason for the team to maintain its competitive state. "The team has been concentrated since November last year. After the winter training, we held the National Shooting Championship in March this year, which was also the first World Championship trials. As of August, the team had conducted a total of six tryouts and found their training and rhythm of competition. ”
The emergence of young players is a highlight in the selection process of the Chinese shooting team. After the first stage of selection, in the initial lineup for the World Championships, post-00s accounted for about 60%, and many of them were under 20 years old. They are energetic and motivated in the game and show a strong upward momentum. In this regard, Wang Lian said: "The emergence of outstanding young athletes has strengthened the atmosphere of healthy competition among the teams. "In the youth category of the World Championships, the young players of the Chinese team played well and won more than 10 gold medals. In Zhao Yuqing's view, this shows that "our echelon construction is still good."
After the Tokyo Olympics, the International Shooting Sports Federation has made several changes to the competition rules, increasing the contingency of the competition, and also putting forward higher requirements for athletes' technical stability, psychological endurance and pressure resistance. For example, the 10-meter air pistol competition of this World Championships has added a gold medal game, and the top two players in the qualifying round compete in the gold medal competition according to the "tie-break 16" rule, that is, the previous results are cleared, and the two win the first to score 16 points through a single shot duel, and the process of the competition is more ups and downs.
In the previous preparation stage, the Chinese team conducted a lot of simulation training for the new rules. This competition is both an exercise and an investigation for the team. "Through the competition, we have further understood and adapted to the new rules," Wang Lian said, "The World Championships is a test of our training and preparation for the previous period, we will seriously sum up, there are some good experiences and practices to continue to adhere to, and deficiencies must also be made up and improved in time." ”
Look for gaps and problems by competing against the top players
By participating in the World Championships, Chinese athletes compete with the world's top players, and at the same time, they are also understanding their opponents and looking for gaps. "We found some problems in our on-field performance. Wang Lian said, "Especially in the 25-meter and 50-meter caliber events, compared with foreign elite athletes, there is still a certain gap, and the competition experience is also lacking, these must be well summarized and focused on solving in future training." ”
Judging from the performance of the teams participating in this competition, the Indian team has made obvious progress and achieved good results in the step pistol event, especially winning multiple team championships in the youth category, which also shows a relatively sufficient talent reserve. In addition, the strength of the Korean team, the American team, the French team, the Norwegian team and other teams should not be underestimated. With less than two years left before the Paris Olympics, the Chinese team still needs to further improve its level and sharpen its will. According to reports, the Chinese shooting team has made a training and participation plan to prepare for the Paris Olympics, and will adjust it at any time in accordance with the new rules issued by the International Shooting Federation.
It is understood that the team's training and preparation for next year will mainly revolve around the World Championships, Asian Games and Olympic selection. Next year's World Championships in Azerbaijan will be another important qualification battle for the Paris Olympics. Since Olympic seats belong to associations rather than individuals, the Chinese Shooting Association is working on a complete selection system to select the best athletes to participate in the Paris Olympics.
Wang Lian said that the Chinese shooting team has made a good start this time, but the team should continue to calm down and focus on the improvement of its own competitive strength. "Our future training should be more solid and focused, further strengthen the scientificity, and the training of reserve forces should not be relaxed, which is also conducive to the long-term development of the project." (Reporter Ji Fang)
People's Daily (November 1, 2022 Edition 13)