Despite a worse start, Tan Zongliang of Shandong managed to surpass the world record in the men's 10m air pistol final with 242.3 points at the 13th Chinese National Games on Wednesday.
Ranking fifth after the qualifier, Tan started the final with a disappointing 8.7-point shot, but managed to rule the final after 10 shots.
It was the third gold for the 45-year-old shooter who had his seventh outing to the Chinese National Games since 1993. Tan nailed two golds from the 7th and 10th Games respectively, and ranked second at the 12th Games in the same event.
It seemed to be a coincidence that Tan seized a shooting gold every 12 years at the National Games, dubbed the mini-Olympics by the Chinese.
"The gold was unexpected but reasonable, because I did focus on every shot without any thoughts of the result," said the veteran. "It's an honour to make the final for a shooter."
The current world record of 241.6 points was set by Christian Reitz of Germany on March 10, 2017 at the European Shooting Championship in Maribor of Slovenia.
Ji Xiaojing of Qinghai claimed gold with 35 hits in women's 25m pistol event, bouncing back from a 6th place in the qualifier. Xiong Yaxuan of Jiangxi also came from behind in 8th place of the qualifier to a silver medal with 32 hits. Zhang Jingjing from Fujian, currently ranking world No.1, won the bronze with 28 hits.
Rio Olympic champion Zhang Mengxue missed the second series, and only finished sixth in the women's 25m pistol final.
Scoring 251.2 points in the final, Li Jiahong of Heilongjiang pocketed the gold in the men's 50m rifle prone for an advantage of 0.3 points over the silver medalist, Liu Yukun of Shaanxi. Kang Hongwei from Zhejiang won the bronze with 228.8 points.
Li, runner-up of the event at 12th Games, said the gold was perfect for him.
"It is my first national games, and any result is acceptable," said the 20-year-old Liu, who ranked sixth in the men's 10m air rifle final on Tuesday.
