Jin breaks 50m record at world championship

Triple Olympic champion Jin Jong-oh will be on a high heading into this month’s Asian Games in Incheon after breaking a long-standing record and winning the 50-meter pistol event at the shooting world championship.

Jin scored a combined 583 points on the way to winning the title in Granada on Tuesday, breaking the world record set by Russian Alexander Melentiev at the 1980 Olympics by two points.

It was the first individual world title for Jin, who won 50m pistol gold at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics and also added the 10m title at the London Games.

“Every time I shot a match, ever since I started competing, I have been trying to reach that result. It feels awesome,” Jin told the International Shooting Sport Federation’s official website.

The 34-year-old won 50m team gold at the 2010 World Championships in Munich, and 10m and 50m team gold at the Asian Games in Guangzhou the same year.

“Winning the world championship title is a great achievement for me,” added Jin, who scored 192.3 points in the final and hopes to win a fourth Olympic gold in 2016.

“The road to Rio is still long. I will have to shoot well in the next two years to be there.”

India’s Jitu Rai won silver after scoring 191.1 points in the final and China’s Pang Wei took bronze (172.6).

The shooting competition at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, west of Seoul, starts on Sept. 20.