Australia’s Warren Potent has won gold following a tense final of the men’s 50m prone rifle competition at the ISSF World Cup at Sydney’s International Shooting Centre.

Shooting a perfect score of 600 in the qualifying round, Potent moved into the final with a slender 1 point advantage over Indian shooter, Joydeep Karmakar with American Michael McPhail a further point behind.

With the eight finalists separated by just 4 points coming into the final, anything less than an almost perfect shot would mean a drop down the leader board.

Potent began with a string of 10.0 10.3 and 10.7 to lead the field by 0.8 after the first three shots.

India’s Karmakar second with the American McPhail a further 1.1 points back.

With just four shots remaining, Potent shot an almost perfect 10.8 to Karmakar’s 10.0, giving him a lead of 1.1, Bulgarian Sergei Martyov a further 0.5 behind.

A final string of 10.4 10.3 and 10.4 gave Potent the gold medal with a total score of 703.7, a victory margin of just 1.3 points over Karmakar with Martynov a further 1.7 points back .

Following the final, a relieved Potent said the testing conditions in the finals hall proved difficult to master in such a high pressure situation.

“It’s really tough in here with the doors open, the wind certainly has an effect so all the shooters were forced to concentrate immensely to get high scoring shots,” Potent said.

“I knew coming into the final I would have to be at my best and I was pushed all the way Karmakar,”

“This a perfect start to the international season for me; we have a few more World Cup events as well as the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games and this is the best way to start.”

Australian International Shooting Ltd