Chinese shooter Lin Haiyan grabbed the gold medal in women's 10-meter air pistol at Beijing Paralympics on Monday, with the total score of 467.7 points.
This was the first shooting gold for the host country of these Games.
![Lin Haiyan waves to spectators. [Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20080908/000bcdb953f10a2f383f01.jpg "Lin Haiyan waves to spectators. [Xinhua]") |
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Lin Haiyan waves to spectators. [Xinhua] |
Moon Aee-kyung from South Korea took the silver with 463.2 points, and the bronze went to Russian Natalia Dalekova with 462.6 points.
Sharing the same leading qualification score of 374 with Moon, Lin didn't start well in the 10-shot final and collected just a 9.1, 1.1 points lower than Moon's 10.2.
Appearing a little impatient, the 43-year-old was the first to open fire in following three shots, while the scores - 9.5, 9.4 and 8.5 - further expanded her gap with her South Korean counterpart.
The Godness of Luck smiled at her when it came to the fifth shot. Like always, she was the first to fire. A decent 9.7.
Moon, however, aimed for quite a while and surprised spectators with a 6.6.
Her rival's lapse seemed to boost Lin's confidence, who later slowed down and collected a 10.2 and a 10.3 to pull away from other finalists.
Before her last shot, the lady on the shooting stand had already boasted an advantage of 3.7 points.
In the breathtaking last shot, the long-haired shooter didn't hesitate for long, before making a 8.3, nailing down the gold medal in advance.
Ecstatic Chinese spectators, with the symbols of Chinese national flags painted on the cheeks and the flags of Beijing Paralympics in their hands, chanted her name loudly as a congratulation.
The 40-year-old Moon, who might be under great pressure, appeared out of gear again and ended with a 7.5. But her advantage from the third-placer was so great that she still got the silver.
Dalekova, who was ranked fifth with 366 points, pulled up her socks and performed steadily. Although she was still slightly behind after the ninth shot, she held her nerves and managed a 9.9 in the end, edging her teammate with the smallest difference of 0.1.
(Xinhua News Agency September 8, 2008)