(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-06 17:33

KUWAIT CITY -- Chinese markswomen grabbed the gold of 10-meter air rifle team event with a record-smashing 1,196 points here on Thursday, two points ahead of the previous world record set by the team in the 2002 Busan Asian Games.

The Chinese team was composed of Olympic gold medalist, world record holder of women's 10-meter air rifle Du Li, champion of the World Cup Bangkok and Guangzhou forts Zhao Yinghui and gold medalist of the 50-meter rifle three positions at the 2005 World Cup Finals Wu Liuxi.

Du and Zhao both scored 399 points in the qualification round and Wu collected 398.

The South Korean team finished as a distant second with 1,188 points and India obtained the bronze with 1,178 points.

Wang Yifu, head coach of the Chinese national shooting team, didn't appear too excited at the result.

"They did well in the competition, but the score only belonged to this single event," he said, stressing that the Chinese team should maintain the sharpness in the following competitions.

A tycoon in shooting sports, China is strong in women's 10-meter air rifle and stormed half of its gold medals at World Cup and World Championship competitions over the past three years.

Du Li alone snatched eight of the 16 golds in the event, her teammate Zhao Yinghui clinched three, while Wu Liuxi and Zhang Yi, gold medalist in the 2006 world championships junior group, pocketed one respectively.