Chinese shooter Chen Ying won the Olympic gold medal of women's 25-meter pistol at the Beijing Shooting Range on Wednesday.

Her total score of 793.4 points set the new Olympic record after rules were changed in the event.

Despite equipment failure, Mongolian Gundegmaa Otryad seized the silver with 792.2 points, followed by German Munkhbayar Dorjsuren who got the bronze with 789.2 points.

Chen, 31, ranked third among eight finalists with 585 points from the qualification round, two points behind Dorjsuren and five less than Otryad who equalled Olympic record with 590 points.

But the Beijing native managed to impress the audience with her unmatchable sharpness in the final, chalking up the highest scores in the first and second five-shot series -- 52.5 and 53.1 points.

After the two series, she surged to the second, with 1.6 points less than the 30-year-old Mongolian gold medalist in the 2006 World Cup Final.

Something dramatic happened in the third series.

Chen, with two gold medals achieved from World Cup Final and one from World Championships since 2005, kept her momentum and notched up another 52.5.

But when Otryad finished her performance, the tally just showed score of the first shot, a 9.0.

Watched by bewildered spectators, she was asked to make the rest four fires again. She finished with a 49.0. This meant Chen was 1.9 points ahead.

In the last series, although the pony-tailed Chinese girl finished with a decent 50.3, which was 0.7 points less than that of the Mongolian, her previous advantage was too big to surpass.

Dorjsuren collected a same final round score as Otryad, 202.2, and was placed third overall.

Another Chinese shooter Fei Fengji who had been ranked seventh with 582 points in the qualification, made a hot pursuit in the final and finished fourth.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2008)