KUWAIT CITY -- Chinese shooters pocketed all of the four medals at Asian Shooting Championship on Wednesday, together with a silver and a bronze, although they didn't seem satisfied with their scores.
Tan Zongliang of China competes to win the men's 10-meter air pistol at Asian Shooting Championship in KUWAIT, December 5, 2007. [Xinhua] |
Tan Zongliang, gold medalist of men's 10-meter air pistol in the Doha Asian Games, was crowned again in the event with an absolute advantage of 687.3 points.
The 36-year-old sharpshooter who was also champion of men's 50-meter pistol in the World Shooting Championships last year, strode into the final with a top of 586 points at the qualification round, three points ahead of his teammate Shi Xinglong.
In the 10-shot final, Tan led all the way and managed to enlarge his advantage against the runner-up Shi to 4.7 points by scoring seven shots above ten points.
"The competition today is really tiring," he said later, "I am not in good condition lately, luckily my performance today is passable."
But Wang Yifu, head coach of the Chinese shooting team, believed Tan could score higher.
"The score today could at best ensure him a bronze in the Olympics," he said, "during the last two sessions of Olympic Games, winners of this event both achieved some 590 points in the qualification round."
Wang himself held the Olympic record of men's 10-meter air pistol, which stood at 690.0 points, including 590 points in the qualification round.
Pang Wei, gold medalist of men's 10-meter air pistol at the 2006 world championships, finished as the fourth with 677.5 points.
Unlike Tan and Shi, Pang was in the first group to shoot his qualification round, when power failure occurred twice, stretching the round by another 14 minutes.
In the junior competition of men's 10-meter air pistol, 20-year-old Mai Jiajie won an overwhelming victory with 681.8 points.
He managed to improve his score achieved at the World Shooting Championship in 2006, with which the debutant grabbed a bronze, by two points to 580.
"I thought I could do better," the bespectacled boy appeared sober-minded, "we feel less pressure in junior competitions. Had I been in Tan's team, my performance could be worse."
Chinese shooter Zhao Shenghua clinched the bronze with 668.9 points.
Beyond all doubts, gold medals of team in both events fell into the bag of Chinese.
On Thursday, five gold medals of individuals shall come out, including those from women's trap and 10-meter air rifle, as well as men's 50-meter pistol.
