By Ivan Stewart Saldajeno  

MANILA (Philippines News Agency) – Filipino Jayson Valdez came up way short of making the finals of the Tokyo Olympics men’s 10-meter air rifle event after the preliminary round on Sunday at the Asaka Shooting Range in the Japanese capital.

Valdez finished 44th out of 47 participants with 612.6 points after six rounds of play.

He was way off the Top 8 cut for the medal round as China’s Sheng Lihao took the last spot for the finals with 629.2 points, beating ninth placer Mahyar Sedaghat of Iran by just 0.1 points.

Sheng’s teammate Yang Haoran topped the first round and even broke the Olympic record for the qualifying phase by scoring 632.7 points, beating the 630.2 record of Italy’s Niccolo Campriani during the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Yang’s feat was just 0.8 points shy of the world record in the first round set by Hungary’s Peter Sidi in 2013.

Both Campriani and Sidi did not join the current Tokyo Olympics.

Completing the Final 8 are Americans Lucas Kozeniesky and William Shaner, Slovakian Patrik Jany, Turkish Omer Akgun, Russian Vladimir Maslennikov, and Hungarian Istvan Peni. (PNA)