Chinese shooting legends Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao preserved a Chinese shooting heritage on Saturday when they won the first gold medal of the 10 metres air rifle mixed team event at the Paris Olympics. More Chinese athletes than those in any other sport have won their nation’s first gold medal at the Games; Huang and Sheng’s victory at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre followed this trend.
With their 16–12 victory, they avoided a late challenge from Park Ha-jun and Keum Ji-hyeon of South Korea, guaranteeing that China would continue to be the only nation to win the mixed team event since it was inaugurated in Tokyo three years ago.
Kazakhstan won the bronze medal with a 17–5 thumping of Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev against German duo Anna Janssen and Maximilian Ulbrich. In a clear indication of their intentions, defending world champions Huang and Sheng defeated their Korean rivals in the qualifying round, three years after China’s Yang Qian and Yang Haoran won the gold in Tokyo. Even though they sprinted to a 14-8 lead after the eleventh round, the gold medal competition was far from a stroll in the park.
Despite a late rally by Keum and Park to cut the deficit to 14–12, the Chinese duo ultimately won. Although Huang and Sheng stated that the outcome of the team event would not affect their individual rifle contests, they will be vying for a second gold in Paris.
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