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 Gold medalist Park Byung-taek of the Republic of Korea poses on the podium during the awards ceremony at the end of the men's 25m Center Fire Pistol individual shooting competition at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou on Thursday. Menahem Kahana / AFP |
GUANGZHOU - Park Byung-taek became the first shooter to win Asian Games gold medals over two decades as the Republic of Korea (ROK) dominated the Aoti ranges on Thursday.
The 44-year-old won the 25m Center Fire Pistol individual title, a feat he first achieved at the Beijing Asiad in 1990 and won again at Bangkok in 1998.
Park is only the third athlete in Asian Games history after Japanese archer Hiroshi Yamamoto and the ROK's horse rider Suh Jung-kyun to win gold medals in a 20-year time span.
The ROK shooters won three of the four gold medals on offer on the sixth day of competition to take their overall tally to 13 from the 32 events contested so far.
China lead the field with 15 gold medals, with Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK - three) and Kazakhstan (one) being the other nations to win titles.
Park won the individual title to share the honours with China, who picked up the team event in the Center Fire Pistol competition.
The supremely-fit Park fought off a stiff challenge from local favorite Liu Yadong to grab the gold by one point, scoring 586 to his Chinese rival's 585.
Vijay Kumar of India picked up the bronze with 583, just one point ahead of the DPRK's Kim Jong-su.
Park, whose last major title was a gold medal at the World Championships in 2002, said regular practice kept him on his toes.
"For the past eight years, I have trained for two hours every day," he said. "That has ensured my confidence level remains high."
Park also took a swipe at Chinese shooters for not performing as well as expected on home soil.
"When they shoot abroad, they are very good," he said. "But they tend to be stressed and nervous when competing at home. The pressure gets to them, I think."
Park's Chinese rival, Liu, appeared to agree. "There is a lot of pressure on us when we shoot in China because the crowds always expect us to win," he said.
In a well-contested team event, the Chinese trio of Liu, Jin Yongde and Li Chuanlin hit back to beat the ROK athletes by one point.
DPRK won the bronze.
The ROK, meanwhile swept the team and individual titles in the men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions event.
Han Jin-seop took the individual gold medal with a score of 1,269, five points ahead of teammate Kim Jong-hyun, who completed an ROK's 1-2 in the event.
Zhu Qinan of China won the bronze after a best score of 101.3 in the final, beating Gagan Narang of India by one point.
Han dedicated the gold medal to his father, who died of a stroke in 2003.
"My father told me never to be happy with any position but first," the ROK shooter said. "I think he will be happy today. I miss him so much."
The ROK's squad of Han, Kim and Lee Hyun-tae claimed the team title with a combined tally of 3,489 to finish 11 points clear of second-placed Kazakhstan.
Host China, one of the favorites for the team gold medal, managed only a bronze with 3,471 points, ahead of India's 3,458.
Agence France-Presse
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