Li Jianfei puts China on top

"I didn't feel I performed very well in qualifying this morning, when I finished in sixth. It was a bad performance. I knew I had to do better this afternoon and I'm glad that I did."

Li Jianfei won the mixed P3 25m pistol SH1 competition on day five of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, giving China it’s third shooting gold medal of the Games.

Li qualified for the final in third place, but took control of the final, right from the very first frame, scoring 51.5. He then held his nerve to hoot a 49.6, 50.5 and 51.7 with his remaining three frames to win the gold medal by 4.8 points.

Sergey Malyshev of Russia finished second and Valery Ponomarenko gave Russia its second medal in the final by finishing third.

Li said he was excited to win the gold medal and happy to shoot well when it counted.

“This is my fourth Paralympic Games and my second gold medal (he won one at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games),” he said.

"I didn't feel I performed very well in qualifying this morning, when I finished in sixth. It was a bad performance.

"I knew I had to do better this afternoon and I'm glad that I did," he said.

Malyshev said it was a difficult final and he wanted more.

"My pulse was very strong, I was shaking from my heartbeat,” he said.

“Shooting is a kind of sport where adrenaline doesn't help. It makes you stressful and shaky."

"It's a strange feeling - some regret because I was first and then I was second."

"I came here to win the gold,” he said.

At the end of day five, China is in first place on the shooting medals table with three gold medals and a bronze medal. Korea is second with two gold medals and one bronze medal, ahead of France, Macedonia FYR and Ukraine with one shooting gold medal each.