Since Xu Haifeng shot the first Olympic gold for the Chinese delegation at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, the shooting event has become the trump card of the Chinese team. With only one gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Chinese shooting team that blew up the "youth storm" hoped to play a beautiful turnaround battle in Tokyo.
In the past nine Olympic Games, the Chinese shooting team has won the first gold of the Chinese delegation six times, three of which are the first gold of the Olympic Games, "The women's air rifle is the spokesperson for the first gold, which is also an honor for me." When an athlete participates in the Olympic Games for the first time, he competes for the first gold, and so does being a coach, which is something that no other sport can experience. As the first gold medalist of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Du Li has now turned into the coach of the Chinese shooting team, and her two disciples, Yang Qian and Wang Luyao, will take over the baton and shoulder the heavy responsibility of impacting the first gold.
Born in 2000, Yang Qian is a rising star in the 10-meter women's air rifle project in recent years. In 2019, Yang Qian won the gold medal of the women's air rifle 60 rounds and the silver medal of the air rifle mixed team at the Asian Championships. In the four races of the Chinese shooting team Tokyo Olympic Selection Competition, Yang Qian not only won all the 10-meter air rifle championships, but even once played a world record, and finally ranked first with a total of 295 points, and won the Tokyo Olympic Women's 10m Air Rifle Individual and Mixed Team qualifications, "The Olympic seat is the best reward for my efforts in the past few years, and I will go all out to prepare." ”
Since being selected from Maoshan Primary School to join the Ningbo Sports School Shooting Team in 2011, Yang Qian studied under national coach Yu Lihua and was selected for the national youth team in 2015. At the beginning of 2016, Yang Qian was specially recruited into the shooting team of Tsinghua University, and was admitted to the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University two years later, a veritable bully, "I told her some time ago, when you have time, I will contact my mother, I will not contact you." Yang Qian's mother, Shi Anfang, admitted that the family members all unified their thinking, did not disturb the children who were preparing for the Olympics, and waited for the good news from Tokyo together, "I remember that my daughter said that the team planned to go to Tokyo on July 19, she said that after departure, the mobile phone will be turned off, 'it will be lost', and then contact home when the game is over." ”
Another youngster, Wang Luyao, also achieved outstanding results in the Tokyo Olympic Trials, and finally defeated Zhao Ruozhu, the women's 10m air rifle champion at the 2018 Asian Games, to qualify for the women's 10m air rifle event at the Tokyo Olympics. In the face of the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games, both girls said that they were ready, "The Olympic Games are mainly a contest of mentality, and whoever has a better mentality in the final can play better." Yang Qian said.
With double insurance in hand, the Chinese shooting team has more confidence and confidence in the impact of the first gold, but at the same time, foreign players are also eyeing it. The leader of the women's 10m air rifle event, 21-year-old India's Elavinil & middot; Valarivan is currently ranked No. 1 in the world, having finished runner-up at the 2018 World Championships and a 2019 World Cup final. Valarivan's emergence made her the hope of an Indian national. In the recent adaptation field training, Valarivan played a set of 10 shots and 106.4 rings of good results, with an average of more than 10.6 rings per shot, which is enough to show her current hot competitive state.