Chapter 45 Chapter 45
At the entrance of the competition venue, Chu Xi's figure was the first to appear in everyone's sight.
Lu Wenxuan came on stage shortly after.
The two men were wearing eye-catching red team uniforms today, and walked towards the shooting position step by step in tacit understanding.
Afterwards, two players from the Catantu team appeared on the scene.
Their expressions were calm, but their eyes revealed a determination to win.
Instantly, the audience erupted in enthusiastic cheers.
All the local people of Katantu began to cheer for their country's players.
Startled by the cry, the assistant quickly leaned over and looked around, searching for a red figure like theirs.
In the dark crowd, one can occasionally glimpse one or two red national flags, but the number is still too few compared to the local people, and the locations are relatively scattered.
The assistant sighed softly and muttered, "I wish the World Cup could be held in China someday."
After the on-site referee has completed the inspection rules, he raises his hand to signal the chief referee.
Then, the game began.
"The 10-meter air pistol mixed team gold medal match has begun! We can see that the Chinese team members are dressed in Chinese red today. Contestant Chu Xi has her hair tied into a bun with a hairpin in her forehead. Although she appears calm and composed during the competition, we should not forget that she is also an upright and youthful girl."
"Similarly, Lu Wenxuan of the Chinese team began learning shooting at the age of twelve. Years of training and competition have honed his character, making him calm and mature. Yet, he is only twenty-one years old."
"Okay, now the camera is on Lu Wenxuan and Rekhos from the Catantu team. Let's watch the two male players shoot their first shots."
The gold medal match was a highly competitive affair, with points accumulated after each round. From the outset, it was clear that all four competitors were rather cautious.
The sound in the venue gradually faded away.
The audience's attention was focused on the contestants who were preparing to shoot.
Lu Wenxuan's breathing calmed down, his body remained basically parallel to the gun, and his other hand was in his trouser pocket.
This shooting posture is best able to maintain body stability.
Two seconds later, his fingers resting on the cold gun gently pulled the trigger.
10.4 rings.
At the same time, on the other side, Catantu player Rekhos also completed the first shot: 10.2 rings.
"After the first shot, Lu Wenxuan of the Chinese team is temporarily in the lead. At present, the male players of the two teams have completed the shooting first. Which team can get the points first depends on the performance of the two female players next." Xu Yingzhe remained calm and continued to explain.
At this time, Mingentina had already raised her gun and started aiming.
She pursed her lips tightly and looked straight ahead. She seemed to be in a strange state and did not shoot for a long time.
Nearly ten seconds later, Mingentina aimed again and finally pulled the trigger.
"10 rings! Mingentina seemed a little nervous. You can see that she took a long time to aim." Xu Yingzhe continued to announce the results calmly.
He has watched many shooting finals and can understand that various unexpected situations may occur to shooting athletes after the finals.
"Now Chu Xi is the only one left on the field who hasn't fired yet. Her shot will determine the points for this round."
Chu Xi kept his breathing steady.
Compared to yesterday, she seems to have not changed much today. Her gaze is still firm, and her figure aiming with a gun reveals a strong aura in the huge arena.
"Chu Xi shot!" Xu Yingzhe's commentary sounded.
The next second, Chu Xi's shooting score popped up on the electronic results screen: 10.5 rings.
The combined score of Chu Xi and Lu Wenxuan was 20.9 rings.
The score of the Catantu team player was 20.2 rings.
It was determined that the Chinese team had a higher score and earned two points.
Current score: China vs. Catantuan: 2:0
"Beautiful! The two Chinese players got off to a great start, taking the first two points! The rules of the gold medal match are that the first team to reach or exceed sixteen points wins. Let's continue to watch the competition live and see the performances of the players."
Is this the beginning of the competition? Are the Catantu players still performing as exceptionally well as they did yesterday?
[In the first round, Mingentina didn't perform well. Team Catantu is probably going to have a tough time today.]
[Okay, that's perfect. I won't watch it for now. I still have to work overtime to make a PPT. I'll just watch the results later.]
The game schedule was terrible. I had to go to a meeting at work this afternoon, so I had to squeeze in time to watch the game.
At this time, it was a weekday afternoon in China, the employees had not yet left work, and the students were still in class.
Fewer people can watch the live broadcast.
Xu Yingzhe could see that the number of people online in the live broadcast room began to decline continuously, and currently there were only more than 400,000 people online.
I guess a lot of people were slacking off at work and secretly clicked into the live broadcast room to take a look.
After seeing that the Chinese team performed relatively stably at the beginning of the game, they withdrew again.
"As the competition entered the second round, the Chinese players performed as stably as ever and won two points in the second round. China is still leading in the current score." Xu Yingzhe's voice revealed some confidence and determination.
Before the shooting position, Mingentina took a deep breath, put down her gun, closed her eyes and began to adjust her state.
At this time, the audience in the stadium began to cheer wildly, and the volume was so loud that it seemed to be about to lift the ceiling of the entire venue.
After slowly exhaling a breath of foul air, Mingentina opened her eyes again.
This time when she raised the gun, a glint of determination flashed in her eyes.
"10.6 rings! Mingentina has regained her form and her results have returned to her previous level." Xu Yingzhe's eyes showed some surprise.
But then, something even more unexpected happened.
"Rekhos of the Catanto team also performed well, shooting 10.7 rings."
In the last round, Xu Yingzhe, who was in a very relaxed mood, subconsciously began to tense up his body.
The results of these two shots are already very good in the finals.
He was a little worried about whether the Chinese team could maintain its stability.
This time, Chu Xi took the lead in shooting and scored 10.5 rings.
Immediately afterwards, Lu Wenxuan also performed well, shooting 10.6 rings.
"In the third round of shooting, the combined scores of the two players from the Catantu team were higher, earning them two points for this round. China currently maintains a 4:2 lead."
The Catantu player's success in catching up obviously made the audience very excited, and there was another round of cheers and applause.
The assistant in the audience was so nervous that his palms were cold, but he was still comforting himself: "It's okay, it's okay, it's just one round."
Lu Tianyang was much calmer than him. He folded his hands in front of him and leaned his back lightly against the back of the chair. The cheers of the foreign audience around him did not affect his mood for watching the game at all.
The game continues.
In the third round of shooting, the Catantu player performed exceptionally well again and won two more points.
Now, the Chinese team's lead at the beginning of the game was completely equalized.
The current score is between China and Catantuan: 4:4
The audience who were originally just lurking in the live broadcast room started to get a little restless after seeing the score.
What's going on? Team Catantu wins two games in a row?
Playing at home is terrifying. The sheer number of Catantuan spectators in attendance is a pressure for players from other countries, but for the Catantuan players, it's a stimulant. It's hard to say who will win.
I thought the Chinese team had secured victory, so I decided to make a PowerPoint presentation. Now, do I still have time to do that?
[Stop it now, let's finish watching the competition first. Anyway, this is the first gold medal, so the rest of the events are easy to predict.]
While netizens were discussing this, the fifth round of shooting had already ended.
This time, the Chinese team and the Catan team tied, with each team scoring one point.
The cheers from the audience grew louder and louder, especially when the players adjusted their mindsets and prepared for the next shot, the entire venue was filled with boiling Catantuan language.
Chu Xi couldn't understand any language in this country before.
But after two days of competition, she has completely understood the meaning of "Come on, Katantu".
This voice always lingers in the air at any competition involving Catantuan players.
She put away her gun, closed her eyes and calmed herself down.
Just as the coach said: the morale of the Catantu players will not last forever. As long as the Chinese team can break the situation once and break the morale of the Catantu players, they will have a chance to catch up again.
After Chu Xi sensed that he had returned to his original shooting state, he opened his eyes again and started the sixth round of shooting.
Load the bullet, raise your wrist, raise the gun, and aim.
Such a simple action is extremely spectacular when performed by Chu Xi.
Two seconds later, Chu Xi pulled the trigger.
10.7 rings.
"Chu Xi scored 10.7 rings! It seems that when she closed her eyes just now, she also made some psychological adjustments and regained a better state." Xu Yingzhe felt a little relieved.
It seems that in this round, the Chinese team has a chance to catch up.
At this time, Lu Wenxuan also completed the shooting: 10.2 rings.
The two players from the Catantu team each scored 10.5 rings.
Although Chu Xi of the Chinese team performed well, the Chinese team was still 0.1 ring behind in the team score.
In the end, the points for this round were given to the Catantuan team.
Current score:
China: Catantuan: 5:7
After seeing the score, Lu Wenxuan immediately frowned, feeling a little angry that he had not performed well just now.
His face darkened, he held his breath, and began to prepare for the next shot.
As he raised his gun and aimed, the cheers from the Katantu audience began to ring out again.
Lu Wenxuan felt a little more irritated.
When shooting, the movements also became a little more hurried.
"Lu Wenxuan scored 9.8 in this shot. From the live broadcast of the competition, we can see that when Lu Wenxuan was aiming, he seemed to be a little affected by the atmosphere on the scene." Xu Yingzhe's voice also became nervous.
"But Chu Xi played fairly steadily, scoring 10.4. In comparison, the two players from Katantu scored 10.4 and 10.2 respectively. Katantu won another game. The score on the court was 9:5."
When the audience in the live broadcast room saw the new score, they were suffocated.
[Holy crap? Team Catantu only has four more shots left to win, right?]
What's going on? Is Lu Wenxuan crazy? How could he score a 9.8?
"I'm really speechless. When Lu Wenxuan was aiming just now, I could hear the audience shouting. This must have affected the players' concentration. Doesn't the referee care about this?"
Why do we have so many spectators at a shooting competition? I really think they're a nuisance. All they do is shout. Can they just watch the competition in silence?
Shooting was unpopular because the standards for spectators were too high before, and there were basically no spectators at the scene. Later, the rules were changed to allow spectators to cheer and applaud, and then people started to be willing to watch. I think this is because Lu Wenxuan's mentality is unstable. Chu Xi, you see, was not greatly affected.
"Yes, the national team must also conduct noise interference training on a regular basis. I think it's Lu Wenxuan's own problem. His mental state is unstable, so the noise on the scene has a greater impact on him."
The live broadcast room, which was originally a bit deserted, suddenly became lively.
The number of online users began to grow steadily.
The chat area was even more noisy, some blamed the audience, while others said that Lu Wenxuan's performance was not good.
Xu Yingzhe rubbed his palms nervously, moved his head next to the microphone, took a deep breath, and then sat up straight again to continue preparing for the commentary.
At this time, the game was paused.
After seeing the score of this round, Chu Xi raised his hand to signal the referee to call a timeout.
In the mixed team gold medal match, both players and coaches have the opportunity to call a timeout.
In this way, the coach can come on the court at critical moments and guide the players' mentality.
When Song Anshan saw Chu Xi stop the game, he hurried forward with a water bottle.
Unlike usual, although the Chinese team is currently losing, Song Anshan's expression remains calm.
After handing over the water, he looked at Lu Wenxuan, "What's going on? Those two shots just now didn't seem like your level. And we've all practiced the noise interference training at the competition site."
Chu Xi didn't say anything. She called for a pause because she saw that Lu Wenxuan was not in a good state. The purpose of this pause was mainly to help Lu Wenxuan adjust his mentality.
Lu Wenxuan frowned and drank some water before speaking, "My mentality was wrong. Seeing that we were behind, I was anxious to catch up, but each shot was getting worse and worse, so I got a little anxious. I wasn't ready when I aimed, so I shot first. After my mentality got bad, I became even more anxious when I heard the noise at the scene."
Song Anshan nodded. "It's good to know your problem. As I said, even if this is the gold medal match, all you have to do is focus on yourself, concentrate all your attention on yourself, block out everything around you, and concentrate on shooting. It doesn't matter if you're behind in the score. Do you understand?"
Lu Wenxuan pursed his lips, and his originally irritable mood gradually calmed down. He nodded, "I understand."
"Also, you must trust your teammates no matter what. Relax and don't put all the pressure on yourself. This is a team competition, you and Chu Xi can share the pressure with each other." Song Anshan glanced at Chu Xi and continued to counsel Lu Wenxuan.
Lu Wenxuan nodded, "Okay."
Chu Xi finished drinking the water, handed the bottle to Song Anshan, turned around and patted Lu Wenxuan on the shoulder, "Let's go."
The halftime break lasts only one minute.
After the end, the four players returned to their shooting positions and continued the competition.
The first round of shooting after the game was stopped.
Lu Wenxuan's condition had obviously returned to normal, and he scored 10.6 in one shot.
Chu Xi's performance remained stable: 10.5 rings.
The Catantu player did not make any mistakes, but did not perform exceptionally well either, scoring 10.3 and 10.4 rings respectively.
In this case, the points for this round are given to the Chinese team.
"After the Chinese team paused, their form clearly improved! In this round, China scored two points, bringing the score to 7:9 against Catantuan!"
"As long as we win one more game, the Chinese team will tie the score." Xu Yingzhe's momentum returned.
Soon, the next round of shooting began.
Chu Xi and Lu Wenxuan's conditions have fully recovered to their best performance in the previous qualifying round.
The two of them chased two more points, directly tying the score between the two teams.
Current score on the field:
China VS Catantuan: 9:9
"The next round is crucial. It depends on which team can break this balance first." Xu Yingzhe lowered his voice and stared at the live broadcast of the game.
At the same time, netizens in the live broadcast room stopped arguing and began to wait quietly for the results of this round.
Chu Xi took the lead in shooting.
Her emotions remained largely unchanged from beginning to end. No matter how loud the noise from the audience, she felt as if surrounded by a vacuum layer, completely blocking out everything around her.
"10.8! Chu Xi once again shot an amazingly perfect shot. Since the start of the competition, we seem to have rarely seen Chu Xi make serious mistakes, but the World Cup is only her first world-class competition. She is indeed a talented dark horse player."
Xu Yingzhe was a little surprised when he saw the results of this gun.
The pressure of the finals is enormous, and athletes generally rarely shoot very high scores.
But this law seems to be invalid when applied to Chu Xi.
Immediately after the next shot, it was Lu Wenxuan's turn to shoot.
After being scolded by the coach, his mentality has completely returned to normal.
The score doesn't matter, the only thing he has to do is hit the bull's eye.
10.7 rings!
"Lu Wenxuan has regained his form, scoring 10.7! Let's take a look at the scores of the two players from Team Catantu in their previous round: 10.2 and 9.7, respectively! So, this round, the Chinese team, with their higher score, will take home two points."
Xu Yingzhe's eyes showed a hint of smile as he explained simultaneously.
At this moment, the audience's originally tense nerves finally relaxed a little.
On-field score changes:
China vs. Catantuan: 11:9
Three consecutive rounds of pursuit completely put Lu Wenxuan into good shape.
In the next round, he scored 10.7 rings.
Chu Xi's performance returned to normal and he scored 10.5 rings.
Surprisingly, the two players from Catantu achieved the same results as the Chinese team.
In this round, both teams scored one point each.
"China is currently leading 12-10. Judging from the score, China only needs to win two more games to reach the 16th point mark."
As soon as Xu Yingzhe finished speaking, the coach of the Catantu team raised his hand and called a timeout.
The game was suspended again.
Chu Xi and Lu Wenxuan did not waste the opportunity and took advantage of the break to come to Song Anshan.
Song Anshan smiled and handed the two of them a bottle of water.
"The Catantu team must be panicking when they call a timeout. With the score at this point, five more shots are enough to end the game and decide the gold medal. Right now, the Catantu players are under more pressure than you. There are so many spectators here, all from their country. If they lose, they'll have to bear far more pressure than we do."
"Don't give them a chance to turn the tables with these last few shots." Song Anshan's eyes flashed with arrogance as he spoke of this. "Show your best form and let the audience see the strength of our Chinese shooting team!"
Chu Xi and Lu Wenxuan looked at each other and nodded at the same time, "Understood."
The timeout ended, and Chu Xi and Lu Wenxuan returned to the shooting position one after another.
The two players from Katantu next to them also seemed to have received new instructions from the coach and looked very confident.
All the spectators knew that the first gold medal of the World Cup would be born in these final few shots.
The audience's eyes were focused on the four contestants, holding their breath and paying close attention.
Chu Xi reloaded the gun, slowly raised his cold and determined gaze, and swept it towards the bull's eye opposite.
The arm holding the gun is raised from top to bottom to a horizontal line almost parallel to the center of the target.
Chu Xi's world seemed to stop.
She could only hear her own faint breathing in her ears.
Exhale, inhale, and exhale again.
His body gradually stabilized with the rhythm of his breathing. The moment he took aim, Chu Xi quickly pulled the trigger.
"10.6! Chu Xi scored 10.6 with this shot."
Mingentina was shooting at the same time and she also scored 10.6.
Seeing this, Xu Yingzhe's heart was lifted again.
Since the scores of the two female athletes are tied, it will depend on the shooting of the male athlete.
Lu Wenxuan's condition has obviously improved a lot since the suspension of the game.
The noise from the audience still didn't disappear, but he was no longer disturbed.
Aim and shoot.
His movements were smooth and quick.
"Lu Wenxuan also shot a 10.6. But Catantu's Rekhos's shot was only a 10.4. After the break, the Chinese team also won this round! Two more points for the Chinese team!"
Xu Yingzhe's voice could no longer conceal his excitement.
"The score is now 14-10 ahead for the Chinese team. Both teams have reached a crucial match point. Whether it will be the gold medal or the silver medal depends on whether the Chinese team can hold on for one more game."
After seeing the score, Rekhos and Mingentina both had a serious look on their brows.
The voices of the audience behind them continued to ring out.
They no longer had the chance to take a timeout, and could only rely on adjusting their mentality to have a chance to tie the game.
"Huh..." Rekhos took a deep breath, raised his head and prepared to shoot.
He could feel his body shaking.
But the more he tried to adjust, the more pressure he felt.
In his last shot, Rexhos scored a 9.7.
Mingentina's score is 10.3 rings.
It can be seen that both of them are under too much psychological pressure and no longer have the energy to chase the Chinese team.
Lu Wenxuan was the first to finish shooting, but his score was also not high. He was probably a little nervous in the match point, and scored 10.2 rings.
"Next, Chu Xi's shot will likely determine the winner of the first gold medal in this Shooting World Cup."
Xu Yingzhe swallowed and continued to stare at the game screen.
At the same time, Lu Tianyang and his assistant in the audience stopped talking and waited quietly for the last shot.
Chu Xi's calm eyes fell on the bull's eye, and the whole person seemed to be in meditation.
Only the light blue hairpin on her head looks a little lively under the light.
The finger on the trigger should be pressed down quickly as the breath is exhaled.
The last gunshot rang out in the empty and quiet stadium.
"10.4! The Chinese team won! Chinese athletes Chu Xi and Lu Wenxuan, with their strong ability to withstand pressure, won the first gold medal for the Chinese team in the 10-meter air pistol mixed team gold medal match at the World Cup!"
"Although there were many twists and turns in the early stages of the match, at that moment, all of them became insignificant. The Chinese players used their strong strength to chase each game after another despite falling behind in the early stages, and ultimately won the gold medal with an absolute lead."
"This is the spirit of shooting athletes that we should learn from the most. They have strong hearts, stable emotions, and a perseverance that is not afraid of falling behind. Even in the face of adversity, they never give up!"
At the same time, the live scores were updated as follows:
China vs. Catantuan: 16:10
Many reporters who came to the scene were amazed and picked up their cameras to capture the victory of Chu Xi and Lu Wenxuan.
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