Zhu Qinan, 20, from China, made an incredible move in the final round of men's 10 meter air rifle event from the eighth position to grab the gold medal from Peter Sidi of Hungary and win an Olympic quota place for his nation at the shooting World Cup meet in Fort Benning of the United States Thursday.
The Chinese youngster was the co-world-record holder of this event and the only one to win gold medals since he first competed in late 2003.
With his last shot of 10.6, Zhu put his contestant Sidi, 26, who was continuously on top during the final, on position two, taking away the gold medal and the Olympic berth for Beijing 2008 with a total score of 699.6.
Sidi, multiple World Cup medallist lost his four-points advantage start during the final and was left on the second place with a tenth of a difference.
"Everything can happen in the final, that is the beauty of shooting," said Zhu, the Olympic gold winner of Athens 2004, according to the official website of the International Shooting Sport Federation.
Thomas Farnik from Austria was third. The 38-year-old leaped from seventh place after the qualification round to win the bronze medal.
Tatiana Goldobina, 29, from Russia held her three points lead during the final round of women's 50 meter rifle three positions and won the gold medal with a total score of 682.8.
Yin Wen, 22, from China sealed the silver medal with a final shot of 10.8, putting the co-leader after the qualification round Olga Dovgun, 34, from Kazakhstan on place three.
The young Chinese shot the highest score of 101.8 during the final and also won the quota place for Beijing 2008, since Goldobina has already won the quota in the 10 meter air rifle event at the first competition day of the meet.
Goldobina finished fourth of that event behind three Chinese girls, but fortunately got the quota as China had already secured their second quota place of the event at the World Cup Changwon, next to their assigned first quota place for being the host country of the Olympic Games 2008.
(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2005)
