Tension was in the air at the shooting range at the Hua Mark Sports Complex as the two Chinese women fought until the last shot to decide their positions on the podium.

Zhang looked to be on track as she stole the limelight from the fifth shot with Zhao following closely behind. At one stage Zhang dazzled the audience with a perfect 10.9 in the seventh shot, which drew applause.

But the mentally-tough Zhao closed in with a 10.7 in her last attempt for a total 502.6, while Zhang finished poorly with 9.8 to be content with second on 502.1.

Zhao, a 25-year-old from Beijing, improved her result from last week's meet in Sydney where she took the silver. She and Zhang started the final round tied with Barbara Lechner of Germany, and Olga Dovgun of Kazakhstan with the same scores of 399.

Lechner took the bronze with 502.0, while 2004 Olympics bronze medallist Katerina Kurkova was left off the podium by just one-tenth of a point.

Dovgun, a bronze medallist in Sydney, closed in fifth with 501.6 points. Asian Games team silver winner Thanyalak Chotipaibunsin of Thailand did not make it to the final, firing 394 points to take 25th position, the best among the Thais in this category which featured 107 competitors.

Today's programme consists of two events: the men's 50m rifle three positions and men's 25m rapid fire pistol, where local rifle ace Tavarit Majchacheep and pistol specialist Jakkrit Panichpatikum will be in action.

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

 The Nation