Social media-savvy teenaged duo, Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao, upheld a Chinese shooting tradition as they won the first gold of the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 10 metres air rifle mixed team event on Saturday.

Chinese shooters have claimed their country’s first gold of the Games more times than athletes in any other sport and that trend continued with Huang and Sheng triumphing at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre.

Their 16-12 win, quelling a late challenge from the South Korean pair of Keum Ji-hyeon and Park Ha-jun, ensured China remain the only country to win the gold in the mixed team event introduced in Tokyo three years ago.

“When the Koreans were catching up, I was not paying too much attention to it because I was first trying to stabilise myself,” Sheng, 19, told reporters.
“I told myself I need to do what I must do.”

Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev gave Kazakhstan the bronze with a 17-5 romp against the German pair of Anna Janssen and Maximilian Ulbrich.

Three years after China’s Yang Qian and Yang Haoran won the gold in Tokyo, reigning world champions Huang and Sheng topped the qualifying round ahead of their Korean rivals to signal their intent.

The gold medal contest was not really a cakewalk though despite them racing to a 14-8 lead after the 11th round.

Keum and Park staged a late comeback to reduce the gap at 14-12 but the Chinese pair prevailed in the end.