S. Korea steals China's thunder in shooting meet<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): South Korea produced a superb but belated
\nfightback yesterday, tainting China's victory celebrations on the
\nclosing day of the 8th Asian Shooting Championships here.<\/p>\n
The all-conquering Chinese needed a face-saving win from Meng
\nGang in the men's center fire pistol after South Korea romped
\nhome with five golds and Kuwait shot to a golden double in the
\nmen's skeet on the most frenetic day of the week-long
\ncompetition.<\/p>\n
Despite the gold medal drought, China remained untouched, with
\n21 golds, 14 silvers and seven bronzes. South Korea came a
\ndistant second with 10 golds, seven silvers and 12 bronzes,
\nleaving third-finisher Japan far behind with two golds, four
\nsilvers and six bronzes.<\/p>\n
Indonesia finished the quadrennial shooting meet with a
\nconsoling bronze in the newly-introduced women's running target.
\nWith two bronzes in hand, however, host Indonesia did not move
\nfrom the 12th place it achieved in the previous meet in Beijing.<\/p>\n
No records fell yesterday, taking the new Asian marks' tally
\nto six. The new records of the championship included a world-
\nequaling mark set by Zhang Bing in the men's trap.<\/p>\n
The men's trio of Lee Ki-choon, Park Byung-taek and Lee Sang-
\nhak opened South Korea's startling comeback yesterday when they
\ncompiled a total score of 1,735 to win the team center fire
\npistol. China, spearheaded by Meng, managed to finish only third,
\nbehind Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n
Kong Hyun-ah inspired the South Korean women to sweep the two
\ngolds offered in the small bore standard rifle three positions.
\nEarlier, the South Korean female shooters ruled the roost in the
\nrunning target.<\/p>\n
Lucky<\/p>\n
\"It's a lucky day for our team. We did not expect to win that
\nmany,\" South Korean head coach Kim Il-hwan said. \"I'm satisfied
\nwith the outcome, which indicates that we are much-improved,
\ncompared with our performance four years ago,\" he added.<\/p>\n
South Korea managed only a tiny collection of four golds in
\n1991.<\/p>\n
\"Winning 10 golds is enough. China remains beyond our grasp,
\nsimply because they have millions of shooters,\" Kim said. \"We now
\nhope to do better in the Olympic Games in Atlanta next year.\"<\/p>\n
South Korea had four more Olympic qualifiers, in addition to
\nthe other nine who had assured themselves of their Olympic berths
\nin previous tournaments.<\/p>\n
The championship here also saw 23 shooters from China, Japan,
\nChinese Taipei, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, India and Iraq
\nsecure their tickets to Atlanta. There are only 356 quota places
\nfor the 1996 Olympics.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has failed to book any berth, but the national
\nshooting governing body will request a wild-card entry for Aurora
\nMaris, who set new national women's air rifle match record of 392
\non the opening day of competition last week.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the body, Edi Sudradjat, told a press conference
\nprior to the closing ceremony that Indonesian shooters had done
\ntheir best.<\/p>\n
\"At least we now have a more optimistic prediction for the
\nSoutheast Asian Games in December,\" he said. \"Our athletes need
\nonly to maintain their motivation to excel,\" he added. Indonesia
\nhas set a minimum target of five of the 34 golds at stake in the
\n18th SEA Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand. (amd)<\/p>\n
Medals tally<\/p>\n
G S B
\n 1. China 21 14 7
\n 2. South Korea 10 7 12
\n 3. Japan 2 4 6
\n 4. Kuwait 2 0 0
\n 5. Kazakhstan 1 5 3
\n 6. Mongolia 1 2 0
\n 7. India 1 1 2
\n 8. Kyrgystan 0 2 0
\n 9. Thailand 0 1 1
\n 10. Uzbekistan 0 1 0
\n 11. Qatar 0 1 0
\n 12. Indonesia 0 0 2
\n 13. Chinese Taipei 0 0 2
\n 14. Vietnam 0 0 1
\n 15. Iran 0 0 1
\n 16. Iraq 0 0 1<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/s-korea-steals-chinas-thunder-in-shooting-meet-1447893297",
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