In the first shot, the Chinese who made a late firing scored only 8.7 points, losing the starting advantage and slipped to the third. The leading position was taken by her 28-year-old Cuban rival who collected a 10.3.

In the second shot, Du seemed to regain her sharpness a bit amid cries of "Du, come on" from spectators, and climbed to the second with a 10.3.

The third shot saw her further mustering up her strength to make a 10.4. She then shared the No. 1 position with surging Olga Dovgun from Kazakhstan.

Cruz plunged to the third with a 9.3, 0.7 point behind the leading pair.

Olympic 10-meter air rifle champion Emmons, with the staggering 10.7, 10.1 and 10.7, mounted to the fourth, 0.2 points behind Cruz and 0.9 behind Du.

However, Du didn't seem to hold her nerves in the following two shots, collecting a 9.8 and a 9.9. With the scores she dropped to the second and was 0.1 point behind Cruz, but 0.3 points before the fourth-placer Emmons who made a 9.7 in her fifth shot.

Burying her head in the right arm for quite a while after each shot, Du managed to delight spectators with a 10.8 point in the six shot, and hence secured her leading position in the following shots.

Emmons, who rose to the second after the sixth shot, also kept her sharpness to the end, while Cruz was out of gear in the last shot, a 9.5, finishing her performance as the third.

Dovgun, who was seventh in the event at the Sydney Olympic and fourth in Athens, swooped to the sixth this time.

Another Chinese shooter Wu Liuxi finished the eighth.

(CCTV, Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2008)