Rio de Janeiro, Aug 11 (IANS) Jin Jongoh from South Korea edged Vietnamese Hoang Xuan Vinh to win gold at men' s 50m rifle event, taking home the third straight Olympic gold medal on this event.
Jin scored 193.7 points in the final on Wednesday, in which the silver medalist Hoang shot 191.3 points, reports Xinhua.
It was the fourth Olympic gold for the 36-year-old South Korean. He had participated in four Olympics, and managed to take at least one medal in each of them.
"I have won three gold medals at the Olympics, but this one is the happiest and most valuable because this was the most challenging competition and I was under the greatest pressure," said Jin about the gold medal and the breathe-taking final competition.
Jin didn' t start the final well. His 6.6 points in the ninth shots almost caused an early elimination, but Jin managed to compensate by shooting 9.6, 10.4 and 10.3 points in the following three shots.
Hoang was holding a 4.8-point lead over Jin after ten shots, but Jin fought back to cut the deficit to 0.2 point with two shots remaining.
Jin shot 19.3 points with the last two bullets, outscoring Hoang who only made 16.7 points to take the title.
"I told myself don't give up, don't give up," said Jin about his 6.6-point performance.
"I'm so glad I did well."
Jin is the current holder of two shooting events, men' s 50m pistol and men' s 10m air pistol. Due to the change of rules by the sport's world governing body ISSF, all winning marks at the finals of the Rio Olympics will be recognized as new Olympic records, so does Zhang's 193.7 points in the men's 50m pistol.
At the age of 36, Jin didn' t have any plan to retire.
"I will continue to challenge myself," said Jin.
Kim Song Guk of DPR Korea won the bronze with 172.8 points.
--IANS
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