After an intense competition of Saturday in which they finished empty-handed, Chinese markswoman Du Li and German world record holder Sonja Pfeilschifter will return the Olympic arena on Thursday to vie for medals of 50-meter rifle three positions.

The 26-year-old Du made her name at the Sydney Olympics by clinching gold in the 10-meter air rifle.

But few people could still remember that she was champion in three positions at the Busan Asian Games in 2002.

"I have never given up the small-bore rifle event. I've already got a gold medal for the air rifle, so I am more eager for one of the small bore. I want to prove that I can perform excellently in this event as well," she said after winning in the event at the Good Luck Beijing World Cup.

Also eager to win is German veteran shooter Sonja Pfeilschifter, who holds the world record of 698 points. One of the best shooters in the world, the four-time Olympian never won any Olympic medals.

On Saturday, she finished as the 12th in the qualification round with 396 points and failed to enter the final. In fact, the total score was the same as the eighth finalist, but score of her last series was lower than the former.

The 37-year-old has been in good shape and bagged four gold medals from three world cups earlier this year.

"It is time that Sonja wins an Olympic medal," her coach Hubert Bichler said.

Biggest obstacles on the pair's Olympic road this time would be Katerina Emmons from Czech Republic and Russian shooter Lioubov Galkina, who shared gold and silver from the air rifle event on Saturday.

Emmons showed amazing sharpness at the Olympics, improving the Olympic record which was previously held by Du Li by 1.5 points. Who knows if her husband's prayer would bring her good luck again?

Galkina reset the Olympic record in three positions four years ago.

In 2007, Galkina bade a temporary farewell to shooting ranges due to pregnancy. The new mother picked up her sharpness quickly in 2008. At the European Championships at the beginning of this year, she edged many elite markswomen to pick up the gold, before later got one silver and one bronze at world cups.

In the afternoon Chinese shooter Wei Ning who was currently ranked No. 1 in the discipline, defending champion Diana Igaly from Hungary, American Kimberly Rhode and 17 other athletes will compete in women's skeet event.

World champion Wei is silver medalist at the Athens Games with 93 hits, or four less than Igaly. The latter also got a bronze in Sydney.

Rhode, 29, finished fifth in Athens, but her other Olympic scores in double trap were astonishing: bronze medal in Sydney, gold medals in Atlanta and Athens.

As the double trap event was cancelled in the Beijing Olympics, she turned to skeet in 2006.

"It was challenging, both physically and mentally," she said, but appeared confident.

(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2008)