Zhang and Park win gold as shooting finishes the way it started

China’s Zhang Cuiping and Korea’s Park Seakyun won the final two shooting gold medals at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, replicating their efforts from day one of competition.

Zhang and Park both won their events on day one at the Royal Artillery Barracks, with Zhang winning the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 and park winning the men’s P1 10m air pistol SH1.

On the final day of competition, day 8, Zhang won the women’s R8 50m rifle 3 positions final and Park won the mixed P4 50m pistol SH1.

The gold medal is Zhang’s third medal of the Games after she won the first gold medal of London 2012 and a bronze medal in the mixed 10m Air Rifle prone SH1.

She said her success in the R8 50m rifle 3 positions didn’t come easily.

"I was very, very nervous, but after my poor first shot, I became very calm so I got better and better in the following shots,” Zhang said.

"I feel very good and this is my second Games. I think I did very well.”

In the women’s R8 50m rifle 3 positions SH1, it was a race between three.

Zhang, Dang Shibei of China and Slovakia’s Veronika Vadovicova were the first three qualifiers for the final. With 10 points between Vadovicova in third and Korea’s Lee Yunri in fourth, the top three looked unlikely to share the medals with the rest of the field.

Vadovicova took the lead early in the final after she scored 10.8 with her first competition shot, while Zhang scored 8.8 with hers to slip from first to third.

The lead continued to swap between the first three qualifiers before Zhang took control through the middle of the final and went on to win with a score of 676.6, 4.9 points clear of Dang in second place. Vadovicova won the bronze medal.

In the mixed P4 50m pistol SH1 Park Seakyun started the final six points ahead of his nearest rival and never looked like losing.

The Korean went on to win the final by 9.2 points and win his second gold medal of the Games.

He said you can’t take any lead for granted.

"In shooting, every shot is important. I shouldn't make any mistakes. The Turkish guy (Korhan Yamac) was surely playing some mind games (by shooting slowly) however at the end of the day I won," he said.

"I was so nervous. This match is really meaningful to me as now I have won two golds, one from 10m and the other from 50m."

Russia’s Valery Ponomarenko won the silver medal and China’s Ni Hedong finished third.

Overall, China finished first on the shooting medals table with four gold medals, one silver and three bronze medals. Korea finished second with three gold medals and one bronze medal, followed by France, Sweden, Macedonia FYR, United Arab Emirates and Ukraine all won one gold medal.