China’s sensational shooter Sheng Lihao wins second gold in Paris

CHATEAROUX – China’s Sheng Lihao gunned down his second gold of the Paris Olympics by winning the men’s 10m air rifle event with a nerveless display at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre on July 28.

Compatriot Huang Yuting, however, was denied the same feat by South Korean Ban Hyo-jin, who won the women’s competition by beating the Chinese via a shoot-off.

Ban also became the youngest female Olympic shooting champion at 16 and the teenaged trio’s sparkling form in Paris offered a glimpse into the future of rifle shooting.

World record holder Sheng has been in sensational form of late and an early indication came when the 19-year-old combined with Huang, 17, to win the mixed team gold for China on July 27.

Sheng, 19, topped qualification for the individual event on July 28 and won the gold with an Olympic record tally of 252.2 points ahead of world champion Victor Lindgren (251.4) of Sweden. Miran Maricic (230.0) won the bronze for Croatia.

“I’m very pleased to have won two gold medals at the Olympics,” said Sheng, who had claimed silver in the event in Tokyo.

“I hope these medals will boost other Chinese athletes in Paris.”

Earlier on July 28, South Korea’s Ban clinched a battle between teenagers with Huang, who eventually settled for silver.

The Korean had a 1.3-point cushion with two shots to go in the gold medal contest when her accuracy briefly deserted her.

Her final two shots of 9.9 and 9.6 opened an unlikely door for Huang, whose 10.3 and 10.5 helped her draw level at 251.8 and force a shoot-off.

Huang scored a decent 10.3 but Ban signed off with a 10.4 to prevail by the slimmest of margins.

The relief was evident as she came out wiping tears before regaining her composure.

“I did not expect for the last two shots to be that close, but after the last two shots I thought this was a great chance for me to prove I could get a gold medal,” Ban said. “So I focused very intensely on the last shot.”

Huang missed a second gold but became the first multi-medallist shooter of the Paris Games.

“It is a pity to finish with a silver after a shoot-off with the eventual champion,” she said.

“I was not very good in the qualification yesterday but I just told myself to keep focused and do what I need to do to get into the right mentality for today.”

Audrey Gogniat’s bronze was Switzerland’s first medal in Paris. 

Meanwhile, British diver Tom Daley on July 29 refused to rule out competing at a sixth Olympics, saying 2028 would be a “second home Games” for the now Los Angeles resident.

The 30-year-old won silver in Paris with partner Noah Williams in the 10m synchronised platform to give him a fifth medal in five Olympics.

Daley gave up diving for two years after winning gold in Tokyo in 2021 but he returned to the pool at the request of his six-year-old son Robbie.

Daley stressed that he would take some time to decide his future, but he said “you never know” if another Olympic appearance in Los Angeles was a possibility.

“They might be adding different events into the Games in LA. I live in LA now, so it could be a chance to do a second home Olympic Games,” he said.

Daley and Williams (463.44 points) finished second behind China’s Lian Junjie and Yang Hao (490.35), who are the dominant force in diving and have won at the last three world championships. Canada’s Rylan Wiens and Nathan Zsombor-Murray (422.13) took the bronze medal.

Said Lian: “We feel very excited about winning. There was a lot of pressure during the competition because the British team were very consistent. They were so close.”

Meanwhile, Olympic organisers cancelled the triathlon swimming training session in the Seine river for a second day on July 28, 24 hours before the men’s race, after heavy rain late last week increased both pollution levels and the speed of the current.

Fifty-five triathletes are scheduled to line up on July 30 on a floating pontoon next to the Pont Alexandre III and dive into the Seine, marking the first time athletes have competed in the river at an Olympics since 1900. The women’s individual race is scheduled for July 31.

Paris 2024 Organising Committee chief Etienne Thobois said he was confident the event would be held as scheduled and that organisers were counting on a day of warm sunshine on July 29 to lower water levels in the river and slow the current.

A final call on whether the race will go ahead will be made at 4am local time, based on samples from the river taken 24 hours before.

Organisers have set aside Aug 2 and Aug 6 as contingency dates in case water quality levels do not improve in time.

In other news, medals from the doping-tainted team skating event at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be awarded during the Paris Games on Aug 7, the International Olympic Committee said on July 29.

The Russian team won the event thanks to the points scored by then 15-year-old Kamila Valieva, who is now serving a four-year ban for doping.

When Valieva’s points were deducted, Russia were relegated to bronze, with the United States in the gold medal position and Japan second.

Canada, who originally finished fourth, are challenging the awarding of the bronze medal to the Russians and the Court of Arbitration for Sport is considering the case.

It was unclear whether the Canadian appeal will be settled in time for the medals presentation. REUTERS, AFP