Chinese shooter Yang Qian has bagged the first gold medal of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The 21-year-old beat Russia's Anastasiia Galashina to seal a dramatic last-shot win in the Women's 10m Air Rifle final.
There were two Indians competing in the event as well but both Elavenil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandela could not qualify for the final. Apurvi holds the world record in the event, with a score of 252.9 that she shot in 2019.
Yang Qian's score of 251.8 is a new Olympic record. The silver medallist ended with a score of 251.1 while Switzerland's Nina Christen won the bronze medal with a score of 230.6.
Yang had in fact qualified for the final in the sixth position with a score of 628.7 but switched gears in the medal round as she bagged the gold with a last shot of 9.8.
Trailing by a mere 0.1 point ahead of the two final shots, Yang saw the gap widened despite a 10.7-point shot, as her rival made an impressive 10.8. However, her 9.8 last shot bagged her the medal as the Russian faltered and shot 8.9 to concede the Olympic title to Yang.
Earlier, the Indian duo of Elavenil Valarivan and Apurvi Chandela failed to qualify for the final after a poor display in the qualification event. Elavenil finished 16th while Chandela finished 36th as only the top 8 qualify for the final.
The Men's 10m Air Pistol will be the second medal event of the day in shooting with two Indians Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma in the fray.
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