Published on 20 Aug 2014
China's medal hope, World-number-one Yang seeks gold in his home country
Yang Haoran, 18, may as well feel a bit out of place at today's 10m Air Rifle in Nanjing. The Youth Olympics will be the first international appearance for some of his contenders. But were Yang to tell them about his experiences, that would take him quite a while. The 18-year-old of China is ISSF's World-number-one male air rifle shooter. He has only been competing internationally for two years, but that was enough for him to pick up one silver and three gold World Cup stage medals. He has also won a World Cup title, which he is currently holding.
Plus, Yang set several records; his latest triumph came with a new Final World Record Junior of 207.7 points. Next September, he will take part in the Granada World Championship and try to get a Quota place for Rio 2016. “My final goal is to get an Olympic Gold medal,” he had said in Munich last year.
Still, someone might make Yang's race to the gold slightly trickier. Uzebkistan's Vadim Skorovarov, 18, won the 2014 Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait City; there, his peer Prashant of India was fourth. Australia's Clopatofsky Sanchez, 17, took the silver at last year's Oceania Shooting Championships in Sydney.
“They take care of me,” Yang once said referring to the Chinese Team. “I'm glad I'm part of it.” Now, he has the chance of celebrating a gold with them, in their home country.
The qualification round has started at the Fangshan Shooting Hall at 9 AM China Standard Time (UTC+08:00); it will finish at 10:15 AM. The final will begin at 11:15 AM. Follow the action on Twitter (@ISSF_shooting) and join in using the hashtag #yogshooting.
The shooting program of Nanjing 2014 will end with tomorrow's and Friday's Mixed International Teams respectively for 10m Air Pistol and 10m Air Rifle.