of China retained his men's 10m running target shooting title on Friday -- but only by the narrowest of margins in a final which went right down to the last squeeze of the trigger, Reuters reported. The other shooting final of the day also produced a tense finish. Maria Grozdeva of Bulgaria came from behind to win gold in the women's 25m pistol competition.
In the running target event, Yang was a point up from the qualifying rounds. But he ended up winning by just 0.1 from Oleg Moldovan of Moldova with a score of 681.1. Yang's compatriot Niu Zhiyuan won bronze with 677.4.
The lead changed hands between Yang and Moldovan several times during the 10-shot final.
The 28-year-old champion surrendered his advantage after the first two shots, regained it with a strong middle section, then faltered to go into the final shot 0.2 down. He triumphed with a shot worth 10.4 to Moldovan's 10.1.
Moldovan's silver was the third medal for the former Soviet state in its second Olympics and its first in shooting.
``I feel very blessed to have won a medal,'' said Moldovan, his country's only shooter at the Games.
In the women's pistol event, Tao Luna of China looked set for victory after extending her one-point lead from qualifying to an advantage of 1.6 after three shots. But Grozdeva responded with five of her next six shots scoring 10 or above.
Her final total of 690.3 is an Olympic record.
Tao, winner of the 10m air pistol event on Sunday, took silver with 689.8 and Lolita Evglevskaya of Belarus bronze with 686 points.
``I've got my wish, my dream title,'' said 28-year-old Grozdeva, whose victory brought loud cheers from Bulgarian fans the moment she fired her final shot. ``I trained really hard. Now I'm going on holiday to relax.''
Chinese Woman Wins First Gold of Games (2004-08-14)China's Yang Ling Wins Running Gold (2000-09-22)Shooting-China's Yang retains Olympic title (2000-09-22)Tao Luna shot down China's First Olympic gold medal (2000-09-17)5 (11292)
