S. Korean teen targets women’s pistol gold

South Korean teenager Kim Jang-Mi won South Korea’s second shooting gold of the London Olympics yesterday, edging a thrilling contest in the women’s 25m pistol.

China’s defending champion Chen Ying took silver and Ukraine’s Olena Kostevych won bronze.

Kim, who set the world record in London in April, enjoyed a healthy lead coming into the final after topping qualifying with an Olympic record of 591 points, five clear of Thailand’s Tanyaporn Prucksakorn.

Chen, who started the final six points adrift of Kim, put the South Korean under huge pressure, outpointing her in the first three series of five shots of the final to lead going into the decisive series.

But Kim found her form to claw back the deficit and secured gold with a total score of 792.4, 1.0 ahead of Chen.

It was the second medal of the London Games for Kostevych, who won bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol.

Gold for the 19-year-old Kim comes after sharp-shooter Jin Jong-Oh won the men’s 10m air pistol gold and means South Korea have pulled level with the United States and China on two shooting golds each.