China sweeps podium in women's air rifle
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-08-28 15:15

China made a clean sweep of the podium in the women's 10m air rifle at the Shooting World Cup Final here on Saturday with Olympic Champion Du Li on top.

Russian Mikhail Nestruev and Denis Sokolov claimed the titles in men's 10m air pistol and rifle respectively, making the delegation the biggest winner of the tournament which concluded onSaturday.

The women's 10m air rifle turned out to be an all-Chinese battle as three young markswomen Du Li, 23, Zhao Yinghui, 23 and Wu Liuxi, 20 took the first three positions after the qualification with a minimum advantage of three full points to theother shooters.

Defending champion Du kept an ice-cool head during the final, shooting an excellent 105.2 points in the 10-shots final and crowned again with 503.2 in total, leading the second placed Zhao with a marked margin of 3.7 points.

"My mark of the final round was common in my daily training," said Du, "I think I could do ever better."

Wu, the winner of the 50m rifle three positions Thursday finished third with 498.4 points.

The 46-year-old Nestruev, the Olympic gold medalist in the men's50m pistol event, began the final on the third position with a score of 585, trailing the qualification leader Jin Jong Oh from South Korea by two full points.

The South Korean's first two distant shots helped Nestruev to climb to the top. The Russian veteran then held back a severe challenge from Tan Zongliang of China, who collected 583 points inthe qualification on the last four shots and took the title with atotal score of 687.4.

"I didn't do well at the beginning, but who could blame a champion?" said Nestruev.

Tan was second on 685.8 points with Ivan Rybovalov from Ukrainethird on 683.1.

Three 22-year-olds grabbed the medals in men's air rifle with Denis Sokolov from Russia, the new comer of the tournament first on 698.9 points in total.

Alin George Moldoveanu from Romania and Ryan Tanoue of the United States took the silver and bronze medal respectively with 697.8 and 697.4 points.

The gold medal of the women's 10m air pistol went to Jasna Sekaric from Serbia and Montenegro. With an unshakable qualifying score of 389 points, the 39-year-old markswoman stood on the top of the podium of this event for the first time in a World Cup meetwith a total of 488.2 points.

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