China's Zhang Fusheng declares love to his team (“Like a family”) right after winning his first medal ever at the Rapide Fire Pistol event in Munich. The 19-year-old shooter now wants to catch up with Yang Haoran, his winning teammate (17-year-old and 2-time ISSF Gold medallist).
“I love the Chinese shooting team: it's a big happy family and I'm honored I'm part of it. I'm thankful to my coach, he helped me a lot. Yang Haoran? We are good friends, he's doing great. He won both in Fort Benning and in Munich. That's two Gold medals in a month, I'm glad for him!”
Zhang Fusheng has got nice words (and a big a smile) for everybody, right after this afternoon's medal ceremony - where he received the very first medal of his career (a Silver one, at the 25m Men's Rapide Fire Pistol event). “I had been working hard to reach this goal, - said the Chinese shooter – now the dream finally came true.” Zhang stood up to the Gold medalist Akiyama of Japan for the first 4 series of the match – keeping himself just one point behind the Japanese shooter after 5, 10, 15 and 20 shots. The 5th series was crucial, with a perfect 5-hit shot from Akiyama, virtually outdoing Zhang – who had only scored 2 points. The 4-point lead remained till the end, when the Chinese athlete made it to the Silver medal (with a 29 points total score).
The young Zhang now thinks of the future: “The Olympics? They're in my mind, of course. But I also aim to win all the other competitions, - continued the very determinate shooter – I'll keep training a lot for that and do my best to become as good as my teammate Yang.” Zhang being a rifle shooter, there are actually two quite skilled and young athletes for both Rifle and Pistol - in the Chinese team – a combination which might drive its future towards many podiums. “A big happy family”, said Zhang. Successful, we might add.