Pang Wei (R) of China celebrates with his coach Wang Yifu after men's 10m air pistol final of Beijing Olympic Games at Beijing Shooting Range Hall in Beijing, China, August 9, 2008. Pang Wei won the gold medal in men's 10m air pistol final.

Pang Wei, Chinese Olympic debutant, nailed down the gold medal in men's 10-meter air pistol event with 688.2 points at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall on Saturday.

Marching into the final with a leading 586 points, the 22-year-old from north China's Hebei Province wore his uniform used in the medal awarding ceremony during the competition. He had a two-point margin from the co-second finalists, Jin Jong Oh from South Korea and Kim Jong Su from DPRK.

Despite a not-so-good start of a 9.3 points, Pang impressed people with his steady performance and scored the following eight shots all above 10, including two 10.7 that aroused cheers from spectators.

After the ninth shot, he has already spanned his distance from the second-placer Jin, silver medalist at the Athens Olympics in 50m pistol, to 4.2 points.

Although he got another 9.3 as the last shot, his position seemed unshakable.

"I am so excited and I just want to go home," said the quiet Pang.

Talking about his success, the boy said, "I had been preparing for four years. Thinking about the preparation, I wouldn't be afraid of competitions, which should be holidays for athletes."

He permitted himself to lapse, just as the two 9.3 points, but he said aim of the permission was for future improvement.

Pang hoped that his gold medal could bring good luck to the Chinese shooting team.

When asked why he played with ceremony uniform, he said, "on the one hand, it was warm to wear it. On the other hand, I wanted to borrow some good luck from the clothes."

Apparently also joyful, Wang Yifu, head coach of the Chinese shooting squad who holds Olympic record in the discipline, took a group photo with Pang.

"It is not easy to train a good athlete," said the twice Olympic champion Wang. "We need more support from people and, in days to come, we will give you more unexpected pleasure."

Kim fell to the third after his first shot and then to the fourth after the eighth shot. But he managed to hold his nerves and surpassed American shooter Jason Turner again.

It was interesting that at the Athens Olympics, Kim was bronze medalist in 50m pistol event. This time, Their positions were the same as in that event four years ago.

A shoot-off was held after the final to decide fourth and fifth from American shooters Turner and Brian Beaman.

Turner scored 10.5, while his teammate notched up 10.3.

In fact, qualification score of Turner was two points higher than Beaman and the latter did better in the final.

But all is well that ends well. Turner finished as the fourth and Beaman the fifth.

Another Chinese shooter Tan Zongliang and Russian veteran shooter Mikhail Nestruev finished 11th and 29th in the qualification round, failing to enter the final.

(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2008)