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Determined shooter since a boy

Pang Wei, turning 22 just about a month ago, was the usual naughty boy in Boading city of northern Hebei Province, and loved to play with guns until he was sent to a shooting training course at the age of 14.

"He came to me one day and asked to take a shooting course. I did not think much. Since he liked it, it did no harm and he would have a place to go after school," said his father Pang Yanhong. "We had never planned to make him an athlete."

But the time for him to make a tough choice about his son's future came quickly.

"In the course for amateurs, he only went shooting in the afternoon after school. But he was very much into it. Soon we found his performance in school was worsening at the same speed as he improved in the shooting gallery," the father said.

It is a difficult decision for Chinese parents to send their children to the sport field. Many prefer an ordinary life track from the college to decent jobs rather than the dramatic up-and-down life of athletes.

Pang's coach Zhang Guangwei went to his father. "I 'kidnapped' him from his father," joked Zhang, recalling the old story. "I seldom interfered in parents' decision but this one was special. I could sense his talent. So I told his father he was wasting his son's gift if he did not let him be a shooter."

The training was very boring for a kid. "You stood there for hours for a right posture. To improve the stability of hands, you had to shoot a gun hung with bricks. But Pang put up with all this," he said.

The determination of the boy and assurance from the coach pushed the father to drop his son out of middle school and send him for full-time training.

China's Pang Wei won the men's 10-meter air pistol gold at the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing on Saturday.[Xinhua]

Of course this proved to be the right decision. Two years later, Pang was a national under-age champion and, at the age of 19, he was chosen by Wang Yifu, former famed national shooter and chief coach, for the national shooting team.

At the 49th International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Shooting Championships in Zagreb, Croatia in 2006, Pang nailed his first world championship.

At the Beijing Olympics, competing after female shooter Du Li lost the chance of a gold medal on the morning of Aug. 9, the young man impressed the audience and rivals with his composure.

His first shot was not very good, with a score of 9.3. But he managed to improve the performance in later shots.

"I can allow myself to make a mistake but after that I should do the things right," said Pang after the competition.

"We are all very happy for him. He reminded me of my own past days," said Wang who attended six Olympics and won two gold medals and two silver ones.