ATHENS, Sept. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Shooting has the honor of presenting the first medals in the Day 1 competitions at the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games on Saturday.
The first event is women's R2 10m air rifle stand-SH1. The qualification round, featuring 18 shooters from 14 countries and regions, will start at 09:00 hours (local time) on Saturday.
The event's final will start at 12:00 hours and the medal ceremony at 12:55 hours.
At the top of the list is South Korean Kim Im-Yeon, world and Paralympic record holder and gold medallist at the Sydney 2000 Games. The 38-year-old shooter also won the gold medal in the women's R8 50m sport rifle 3X20-SH1 event of the 2000 Paralympic Games.
Among others title contenders are Sabine Brogle of Germany, second at the 2000 Paralympic Games and Di Coates of Britain, third in Sydney. Coates, 50, has won gold medals in Seoul and Barcelona and one gold and one bronze in Atlanta.
Australian Libby Kosmala, 62, is one of the best shooters in this event. She is looking for her ninth gold medal in Athens (competing in her ninth Paralympic Games). She won her first gold medal in 1980 in Arnhem, where she also picked up two silvers. She owned the competition four years later, where she claimed four world records to complement her stunning return of four more golds. She followed that feat with three golds and one silver from Seoul.
Greece fields 41-year-old Georgia Dimopoulou, 11th in the recent European championships.
The second event of the day is men's P1 10m air pistol-SH1. The qualification round, with 32 shooters from 21 countries and regions, will start at 11:45, the final at 15:15 and the medal ceremony at 16:10.
At the top of the list is again a South Korean shooter. Lee Hee-Jeong LEE, 36, is the world and Paralympic record holder and gold medallist at the Sydney 2000 Games.
Among the best shooters is Russian Andrey Lebedinski, 41, holder of six pistol world and Paralympic records. He has also won four Paralympic medals at the 1996 and 2000 Games.
China's silver and bronze medallist from Sydney Li Jianfei, 27, and 41-year-old Austrian Hubert Aufschnaiter, who was also second in Atlanta, are looking for one more Paralympic medal. Enditem | 
