RIO DE JANEIRO First-time Olympian Zhang Mengxue secured China’s first gold medal of the 2016 Olympics on Sunday by winning the women’s 10-meter air pistol event and extending China’s gold medal streak in the sport.
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China has six medals so far in the Games, Zhang’s gold, two silvers and three bronzes. Vitalina Batsarashkina of Russian Federation took home the silver with 197.1 points.
In bronze was Anna Korakaki, the first Greek woman to win a shooting medal of any hue in Olympic competition.
Vitalina Batsarashkina of Russian Federation wears her silver medal during the award ceremony for the women’s 10-meter air pistol event at Olympic Shooting Center at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – China’s bid for shooting gold came up short on the opening day of the Rio Olympics and was not looking good on Sunday’s day two after a two-time defending gold medalist failed to qualify. The two-time ISSF 2016 World Cup bronze medalist had a slow start.
The next shooter to get eliminated at the 7th spot was world number 2, Serbia’s Bobana Velickovic, who could not proceed to the medal shootout as she was the lowest ranked shooter after 10 shots with 96.4 points.
The woman from Jinan produced a ideal 10.9 on her 17th shot to comfortably hold off Russian teenager Vitalina Batsarashkina.
Promising 25-year-old Zhang scored 199.4 points in 20 shots, leaving Russia’s Vitalina Batsarashkina in second place with a score of 197.1 and Anna Korakaki from Greece third with 177.7.
“I remember a coach told me once, the only person who could destroy me was myself”, Zhang said through an interpreter.
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Korakaki, 20, revelled in her milestone medal, the first of these Games for Greece, after two hard years of training in a country struggling with a prolonged economic crisis.
