Rio de Janeiro: Zhang Mengxue got China off the gold medal mark at the Rio Games on Sunday, the Olympic debutant winning the women’s 10m air pistol title.
With an assured display of precision shooting at the Deodoro range, the 25-year-old comfortably held off Russian teenager Vitalina Batsarashkina, with Greece’s Anna Korakaki taking bronze.
The girl from Jinan grabbed her chance to take the title after her compatriot Guo Wenjun, the champion in 2008 and London 2012, misfired badly in qualifying to miss out on the final.
Another big name missing was the Ukrainian world number one and Athens 2004 champion, Olena Kostevych. One of the two Russian teens who made it to the final, Ekaterina Korshunova, was the first to fall by the wayside.
She was followed by Serbia’s Bobana Velickovic and Spain’s Sonia Franquet as Zhang moved menacingly into the lead.
Thai Sopita wins first weightlifting gold
Thailand’s Sopita Tanasan blew away the opposition to grab the first gold medal of the weightlifting competition. The 21-year-old dominated the women’s 48kg, lifting 92kg in the snatch and 108kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 200kg to finish first in weightlifting’s lightest category.
Pint-sized Sopita, a regular lifter in the 53kg class, took full advantage of the withdrawal through injury this week of hot Chinese favourite Hou Zhihui to win with ease.
The 5 ft 1 inch Thai lifted 8kg more than silver medallist Sri Wahyuni Agustiani of Indonesia while evergreen Japanese lifter Hiromi Mayake took bronze with a total of 188kg.
Sopita is the fourth women’s weightlifter from Thailand to win an Olympic gold medal.
High winds halt rowing
High winds caused the rowing programme to be postponed. Rowing’s global governing body World Rowing said a new schedule for the regatta would be released soon as winds buffeted the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas.
The decision came after competitors complained about conditions on Saturday, when high winds made for choppy waters which led to the capsizing of Serbia’s double sculls pair.
Van Avermaet takes cycling gold
Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet upstaged Tour de France winner Chris Froome and took his dream summer to a new high by winning Olympic road race gold on Saturday.
After winning a Tour de France stage last month and holding the yellow jersey for three days, the 31-year-old added Games glory to his achievements. But it was a miserable day for some of the big favourites like Froome, who could only manage 12th, and Giro d’Italia champion Vincenzo Nibali, who crashed out 12km from the finish.
