Pupo, Jorge Felix and Meinardo

Havana, May 28 (JIT) - Cubans Leuris Pupo, Alejandro Jesús Delgado and Jorge Félix Álvarez finished in fifth through seventh place, in that order, on the first day of the 25-meter rapid fire pistol at the Granada 2022 Grand Prix of Sport Shooting in Spain.

Pupo accumulated 286 units after the first 30 shots, while Delgado and Álvarez totaled an identical 284.

The day's leaders were Korea's Jong-Ho Song with 294 units, followed by Poland's Oska Miliwek (292), Korea's Jaekyoon Lee (291) and Spain's Javier Campos (290).

Contrary to expectations, only nine athletes showed up for the competition in which the new competition format for the final rounds is to be applied.

After the second preliminary phase scheduled for this Saturday, also of 30 shots, the best eight will compete for the medals.

As approved by the international federation after Tokyo 2020, the eight best shooters are divided into two groups and after 20 shots, only the two best shooters in each group remain in the competition.

In the next round, another 20 shots decide the fourth place for the athlete with the lowest cumulative score. The three remaining athletes shoot 10 more times to decide the bronze medalist with the lowest sum; and the surviving duo then compete in a pair of series of five shots each to share the gold and silver medals.

The days in this Spanish town have allowed the Cubans to train with bullets and add this competition, all as a prelude to the qualifying competition for the Central American and Caribbean Games of San Salvador 2023, scheduled for next June in Guatemala.