Slovakian shooter Veronika Vadovicova won the first gold medal of the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games on Sunday.

Vadovicova collected 494.8 points from women's 10-meter air rifle standing SH1 event, taking a distant lead from the silver medalist, German Manuela Schmermund, who chalked up 490.2 points.

The bronze was won by Nilda Gomez Lopez from Puerto Rico with 489.2 points.

Impressing spectators with her stable performance in the qualification round, Vadovicova topped the list of eight finalists with 392 points, or one point below the Paralympic record.

In the ten-shot final, the 25-year-old girl on a wheelchair further pulled away from her rivals by scoring all of the first nine shots above 10, including a highest score of 10.8 in the fourth shot.

Before the last shot, she has already enjoyed a comfortable lead of 5.2 points.

Although the girl finished with 9.5, the gold medal has already fell into her pockets.

Schmermund and Lopez told spectators the meaning of "never giving up" with their performances.

Ranked fourth and fifth with 388 and 387 points respectively in the qualification round, the pair chased hotly in the final, especially Lopez, who surged to the fourth after the sixth shot.

After the ninth shot, she was still the fourth, closely following Australian veteran shooter Libby Kosmala with a 0.2-point deficit.

In the decisive last shot, Kosmala fired first. A 10.1. While Lopez managed to get a 10.4, edging her Australian rival with just 0.1 point.

However, the 66-year-old Kosmala, oldest athlete on the Beijing Paralympic shooting range and a ten-time Paralympian, also grabbed spotlight and gained appaluses with her sharpness.

"I was so close (to the medals)," she said in disappointment.

The old lady had competed in swimming, track and field, archery before converting to shooting in Paralympics. She had already reaped 10 shooting gold medals from previous games.

She admitted in the competition, she was "a little bit tired". In the qualification, Kosmala had 97, 100 and 99 in the first three ten-shot series, but achieved just a 94 in the last. In the final, she was always the first to fire.

"Before the competition, people were talking about whether Kosmala could gain another gold medal, and this bothered her," said an Australian press official.

But as the smiling shooter said, "it's my first final competition after 20 years. I enjoy it."

Kim Im-yeon from South Korea, who was holder of both Paralympic record and world record, seemed out of gear and finished seventh.

(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2008)