Du's second shot at glory

By Tan Yingzi (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-14 08:21

Chinese shooter Du Li wants to make a comeback. After a disappointing result on the opening day of the Beijing Games, that saw her place fifth in the 10 m air rifle, she will be looking for a much higher finish today in the 50m three position rifle competition.

This is not necessarily her best event.

China's Du Li has less pressure to perform today. Bai Yu

Du gave it up before the 2004 Olympics to focus on the 10m air rifle and picked it up again after winning a gold medal in Athens.

By all accounts, she has made impressive progress. She is currently ranked No 2 in the world.

"I always believe I can do well in both events and I have improved a lot in three positions since 2004," Du said during the Beijing Olympic trials.

Under intense pressure to win the first gold medal for China during the 10m air rifle Sunday, Du folded. she goes into the event today without that heavy burden.

But the competition will not be easy.

She will face off against Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic, defending Olympic champion Lioubov Galkina of Russia and world No 1 Sonja Pfeilschifter of Germany.

Emmons will seek her second gold of the Beijing Games while the Russian veteran is looking for her second consecutive Olympic gold. Galkina has already made a podium finish in 10m air rifle in Beijing.

Women's skeet

Hungary's Diana Igaly, 43, the oldest woman in the competition, may be the shooter to watch in women's skeet shooting.

She has fallen far in the rankings, coming into the Olympics ranked 25th in the world after winning gold in Athens.

She will face stiff competition to hold on to her crown as Athens silver medalist Wei Ning of China and bronze medalist Zemfira Meftakhetdinova of Azerbaijan have performed better in recent times.

Wei is the top ranked woman in the world in skeet and finished second at the 2007 World Championships. She outshot Zhang Shan, the 1992 Olympic champion, to earn the berth in Beijing.

The three position event kicks off at 9am with the gold medal competition set for 12:30pm at the Beijing Shooting Hall. The women's skeet final is scheduled for 3pm.

CCTV 1 : 12:30pm Women's 50m three position final

CCTV 2 : 2:50pm Women's skeet final

(China Daily 08/14/2008 page23)