"I spent too much time on the prone and standing parts, leaving no time for the kneeling, which I am in fact good at," she frowned after that competition.

This time the ambitious girl seemed determined to make a breakthrough. She put on her earplugs, which she deliberately took off in the 10-meter air rifle event on Saturday to "adapt to the surroundings".

Ranked as the second among all eight finalists with 590 points, one point less than German shooter, world record holder Sonja Pfeilschifter, Du mustered up her strength to achieve a 10.4, surpassing her 37-year-old German rival, who collected a 9.1, with a narrow advantage.

The following three shots saw Pfeilschifter regaining her sharpness, especially after the fourth shot. The Chinese girl was lagged behind.

However, Du managed to hold her nerves and fired a 10.3 point in the fifth shot, one point higher than the German.

She further pulled away in the following shots to expand her advantage, and finally won with a 1.9-point margin.

"She shot her best level and it is beyond our expectation," said Wang Yifu, head coach of the Chinese national shooting squad, who was delighted at Du's performance. "she performed a world-class shot."

But the shooter from eastern China's Shandong Province remained cool-headed. "I was so lucky," she said, noting that her main rivals, Pfeilschifter and famous Russian sharpshooter Lioubov Galkina, didn't do well in their final and qualification rounds.

Talking about the Olympic Games that is to be held on her own soil, Du was frank, "Maybe this will be the only chance for me to compete in the Olympic Games hosted by my own country, and I enjoy pressure."

Du Li's boyfriend Zhang Fu was a shooter in the Chinese national shooting squad as well, who snatched the gold in the men's 50-meter rifle three positions at the Doha Asian Games.

In fact, many famous shooters are known as couples, like American Olympic champion Matthew Emmons and Czech Katerina Emmons, and Russian Yuliya Alipava and Alexey Alipov.

When asked if they would also make a famous pair like their foreign counterparts, the girl made a face. "We will do as you wish," she beamed.

(Xinhua News Agency April 18, 2008)