The 55-year-old Wang Xiao, a shooting coach for the Beijing team, never thought of winning a gold medal at his age, but had his dream realized on Monday at the 13th Chinese National Games in Yiyang county, central China's Henan province.

Sheng Yongpeng and Li Qingnian won the mixed team trap event on Monday for the Beijing shooting team, enabling their coach Wang to step onto the platform for the first time for the top honor.

"This is the first time in the history of the National Games, I'm so excited. It's an acknowledgement of our efforts and an encouragement for us as coaches," said Wang, who had never won a gold medal at the National Games as an athlete.

The General Administration of Sport of China announced in March that all the coaches of the medal winners in each event will also receive the same medals as their athletes at the 13th National Games.

"The reform will inspire the morale of the coaches who were the unknown heroes before, because they also work hard and are worthy of both flowers and top honor," said Yu Haijuan, an official at the General Administration of Sport.

The 13th National Games will officially run from Aug. 27 to Sept. 8 in Tianjin, with the trap and skeet events being held in Yiyang, a little county in central China's Henan province.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)