Du Li fails again, Yi shoots for gold

Shooting in the women's 10m air rifle individual event. Twice Olympic Games gold medalist Du Li failed to live up to expectations once again at the National Games. The 27-year-old shocked everyone by failing to qualify for the final by a 0.1 point margin. That might be due to rumours that Du will put down her gun and prepare to get married. Is retirement on the cards?

The surprise of the day came in the final. Guangdong's Yi Siling, a rookie shooter, qualified for the final with third place. In the final, she was up against several good contenders, including Yu Dan from Sichuan and veteran shooter Wu Liuxi of Shaanxi. After several shots, Yi established a slight lead with Yu Dan following. In the last shot, the Guangdong girl steadied her gun and shot a 10.3 points.

Eventually, Yi won the gold medal with a total of 504.1 points. This was a surprise win for the young shooter.

Yi Siling said, "I feel very happy and excited. I didn't expect to win a gold medal. I just tried my best to stay focused on my shooting. My coach told me that I needed only to concentrate on my own performance, and not think about others. Sometimes I was absent minded, but in the final I stayed focused to win."

Sichuan's Yu Dan hit the maximum 10.7 points in her last shot, but had to settle for the silver medal with a total of 50.6 points. While favorite Wu Liuxi, who had previously beaten Olympic champion Du Li, was not at her best, finishing with a total of 502.8 points to win bronze.