KUWAIT CITY -- Tuesday witnessed a big bumper day for DPR Korea, whose shooters swept three of the four golds at the 11th Asian Shooting Championships, as well as an Olympic quota place for the women's skeet.
The quota place, together with a gold medal in the event, was won by 37-year-old Park Jong Ran, co-champion of the event with Chinese shooter Zhang Shan at the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, with 93 hits.
Topping the qualification round with 70 hits, Park took the lead all the way in the 25-shot final by scoring 23.
"I would give this victory to our great leader Kim Jong-il," she said, adding that she has big pressure in the event.
"The greatest pressure is that we must bring back this quota place for our country and our people," noted her coach.
Pak's teammate, 37-year-old Ri shared the same qualification score of 67 hits with Chinese athletes Wei Ning and Yu Xiumin. But Wei's miss in the first shot pulled her behind, while Yu and Ri, who both downed 24 plates, were forced into a shoot-off.
In the shoot-off, the Chinese girl was beaten for missing one target of the first pair and dropped to the fourth.
The third DPR Korea shooter Kim Myong Hwa was also among the finalists, who finished as the sixth.
Undoubtedly, the trio lifted their team to the champion platform of the event.
In the men's 25-meter standard pistol competition, DPR Korea topped the list of the team event with 1,700 points, followed by its neighbors China and Japan with 1,696 and 1,688 points respectively.
The only gold medal the country lost was in the individual competition of men's 25-meter standard pistol, which was picked up by Chinese athlete Liu Zhongsheng.
Liu, 34, was the gold medalist of men's 25-meter rapid fire pistol in the Doha Asian Games. But he failed to live up to his fame in competition of the discipline on Saturday by falling from the top to the fourth with 772.8 points.
He seemed to regain his sharpness on Tuesday and scored 573 points, surpassing DPR Korean marksman Kim Jong Su by three points.
Another shooter from DPR Korea, Kim Hyon Ung, collected 568 points to end in a draw with Japanese Tomohiro Kida. But Kim managed to snatch the bronze after winning the shoot-off.
Wednesday is the last day of the Asian Shooting Championships, on which medals of men's 50-meter rifle three positions and men's skeet shall be distributed.
