Zhang Mengxue of China shows the gold medal at the awarding ceremony of the Women's 10m Air Pistol of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games at the Olympic Shooting Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 7, 2016. (Xinhua/Han Yuqing)
RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The 25-year-old Zhang Mengxue won China's first gold at the Rio Olympics by claiming the women's 10m air pistol title here on Sunday.
Zhang finished the eight-member final with 199.4 points. Vitalina Batsarashkina of Russia took home the silver with 197.1 points. The bronze medal went to Anna Korakaki of Greece, who scored 177.7 points.
Due to the change of rules by the sport's world governing body ISSF, all winning marks at the finals of the Rio Olympics will be recognized as new Olympic records, so does Zhang's 199.4 points in the women's 10m air pistol final.
The Chinese shooting team gave a hard try on the opening day of the Rio Olympic shooting competition, but neither Du Li nor Pang Wei finished with a gold in their respective final on Saturday.
Two-time Olympic champion Guo Wenjun was considered as the top favorite, but the veteran didn't survive the qualification stage. Guo shot 378 points, 6 points under the qualification line, and finished her third Olympics with the 30th place.
Zhang placed the seventh in the qualification to get into the final. The two-time ISSF 2016 World Cup bronze medalist had a slow start. All her first four shots were below 10, and she was ranked sixth before the elimination round.
Zhang found back her good form from the seventh shot. She hit straight 10s and steadily moved up in the rankings.
Zhang took the lead after hitting 10.6 and 10.3 points in the 11th and 12th shots, and she managed to broaden the lead by every shooting round. She was 2.0 points ahead of Batsarashkina with two shots left, and the 19.5 points was enough for her to take the title.
"I didn't have so much expectation before the competiton," said Zhang. "I want to thank my coach and my team, and I'm really happy to win gold in my first Olympics."
The 19-year-old Russian Batsarashkina secured the silver medal with a solid performance, hitting the 10th ring with 10 of her 20 shots.
"I feel very good, but I still cannot understand what has happened, so that is why I am so calm right now," said Batsarashkina about her Olympic debut.
Korakaki, one year older than Batsarashkina, went through some ups and downs during the final, but the bronze was a milestone as it's the first medal in shooting in the history of Greece.
