Korea’s Kim won the 10m Air Pistol Women final with an outstanding advantage of 7.7 points on her followers. Fang won the second shooting medal for China, while Solorzano secured Guatemala’s first Olympic medal.
Korea’s Kim Jang Mi claimed the first Youth Olympic Gold medal awarded to ladies in shooting events with a total score of 479.2 (378+101.2) points after an outstanding final match.
The 17-year old Korean shooter passed through the qualification rounds with a score of 378 points, making it into the final in the lead. Then, shooting solidly throughout the 10-shot medal match, she landed on the highest step of the podium and was awarded her first international Gold medal.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to keep up with the school, my homework and the trainings, but it pays off! This medal is an injection of motivation for the future!” Kim said after the award ceremony.
“I picked up an Air Rifle, when I first started shooting, a few years ago… but then I tried the Air Pistol: it makes more fun! So I changed to this event, and these are the results!” she continued, “I had won a medal at the 2009 Asian Championship in Doha, but I would never expect to win today’s match!”
“My next Gold is to grab a qualification spot for the 2012 Olympics…. I am dreaming about it! I have seen the Korean Pistol Olympic Champion Jin Jong Oh once… I’d like to train with him, sometimes!” concluded Kim.
Almost eight points behind Kim, China’s Fang and Guatemala’s Solorzano fought till the last shot, and further more, to secure the Silver medal.
The two shooters had a chance to catch the Korean leader, but after the fifth final shot they both fired a series of disappointing shots in the eighth ring, dropping down in the placement.
The duel for the second step of the podium eventually finished in a tied score of 471.5 points, and it was a shoot-off (a single shot tiebreaker) to decide the final placements.
Shooting first, China’s Fang Xue marked an unbeatable 10.8 shot, securing the Silver and leaving the Bronze to Guatemala’s Kate Geraldine Solorzano with a 10.1.
The Guatemalan team celebrated as loud and joyful as possible: Solorzano’s is indeed the first medal ever won by Guatemala in an Olympic event since its first participation in the Games.
Canada’s Danielle Marcotte finished in fourth place, just 6 tenths of a point far from the podium with a total score of 470.9 (374+96.9) points. The 17 year old shooter was ranked third as she fired a great 10.8 on her seventh competition shot, but then dropped down in the scoreboard with a frustrating 8.6 “After shooting that 10.8 I felt extremely nervous. The crowd, the people… I was shaking a little bit!” she confessed after the match.
She was followed by Russia’s Ekaterina Barsukova, 18, who had started in third place with 376 points and eventually landed in fifth with 468.5 points. India’s Ruchi Singh, Italy’s Chiara Marini (17) and Switzerland’s Eliane Dohner (18), the last three finalists, closed the match in sixth, seventh and eighth place, respectively.