Undecided Future

Tan has a faithful fan, his mom Wei Suzhen.

The 67-year-old granny was a retired worker from local road bureau. Since her son entered the provincial shooting team in 1988, she had few chances seeing him.

In Wei's drawer she kept a black-and-white photo of Tan, which her neighbor snapped for the boy as a free gift, as the mother couldn't afford to shoot her son a 0.4-yuan photo when he was a child.

Whenever the gray-haired lady missed her son, she would look at the photo.

"To be a sportsman, your task is to pick up medals," Wei once told the shooter.

Talking about his mother, Tan shed tears.

"I hope I could have more time in the future to take care of my mom," he choked.

He said if he retired, his next job would still be in connection with sports.

But he didn't rule out possibility of continuing his athletic career.

"If my country needs me, I am always ready."

Tan Zongliang wins a sivler medal in men's 10m air pistol of the Athens ISSF World Cup, April 22, 2004. [Wen Xinnian/Xinhua]

(Xinhua News Agency August 12,2008)