LONDON, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- Leuris Pupo of Cuba equaled the world record for shooting in a rapid-fire pistol final Friday to win the Olympic gold medal.
Pupo hit 34 of 40 targets during the final to defeat India's Vijay Kumar and China's Ding Feng.
Shooting at a target 25 meters away, the competitors take a series of five shots which must be fired in a span of 4 seconds.
After the fourth of eight series, the lowest-ranked of the six finalists is eliminated and that continues after each series until only two shooters are left.
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Going into the final series of shots, Pupo had a two-point lead over Kumar and was the first to shoot. The Cuban hit four of the five targets, clinching the gold medal before Kumar made his attempts.
Knowing he could only win the silver medal, Kumar missed two of the last five shots to finish with 30 for the finals.
Russian Alexi Klimov set a world record in qualifying with a score of 592, but those results were wiped out heading into the finals and he finished a disappointing fourth. Klimov hit only three targets in the third series and just two in the fourth to fall back.
Pupo's gold medal was the first for Cuba in the Olympics.
Earlier in the day Sergei Martynov of Belarus won the 50-meter prone rifle shooting event in his sixth Olympic appearance. He had previously won two bronze medals.
After scoring a perfect 600 in qualifying, he finished the event with a world record 705.5 to run away with the title.
Belgium's Lionel Cox received the silver medal and Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia was awarded the bronze.
