Russian pistol shooter Andrey Lebedinskiy went home with a gold medal from the Atlanta 1996 Paralympic Games. After 12 years, he finally recaptured his title by winning the Mixed 25m Sport Pistol SH1 event at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall on Wednesday. En route to the gold, he also marked a world and Paralympic record of 774.7 points.

Andrey Lebedinskiy (L) competes in the final. [Xinhua]

Lebedinskiy took the bronze in this event at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games and the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.

Seeded first going into the final with a score of 574 points, the Russian had a fierce seesaw battle for the gold with local favorite Li Jianfei in the four series session.

"I've been waiting for this medal for twelve years. When you walk from the podium when you've just won gold, you make history. It happened in Atlanta, but unfortunately not in Sydney or Athens. I'm exceedingly happy that I won the Gold medal," said Lebedinskiy.

Li, who was qualified third going into the final, made a good start, scoring a massive 51.6 points in the first series and stood at the top of the ladder.

The Russian surpassed Li in the next series scoring 52.6 points, the highest series score of the session. Li then responded quickly in the third series scoring 51.4 points to again overtake Lebedinskiy.

Lebedinskiy was placed second to Li by a narrow margin of 0.9 points after the third series, but he wrapped up the session with a great last series scoring 50.6 points.

Andrey Lebedinskiy competes in the final. [Xinhua]

Li couldn't answer the Russian's great shots and only managed to gain 49.3 points. He finished second with a total score of 774.3 points.

The winner of the Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1 here in Beijing, Valeriy Ponomarenko, took third at 768.9.

Medalists stand on the podium. [Xinhua]

Sweden's marksman Jonas Jakobsson collected his second gold at Beijing 2008 when he won in the Men's 50m Free Rifle 3x40 SH1.

He broke his own world and Paralympic record in the qualification and entered the final in first place with a score of 1163 points.

Jakobsson started strongly in the final, scoring over 10.4 in each of his first two shots. He then lost his form in the next four attempts, failing to score over a 10.0. However, he showed his pedigree in the tenth and last shot, nailing a 10.7 and finished the session with a total score of 1264.3 points to set a world and Paralympic record.

This win is his third consecutive gold in the event since he first took the title at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.

Doron Shaziri of Israel finished second with a total score of 1259.9 points. The Israeli shot superbly in the final, scoring a perfect 10.9 in his fourth attempt. His total score of the session was the highest (101.9) and he grabbed the third Paralympic silver medal of his career.

Dong Chao of China bagged the bronze at 1253.5. The 22-year-old struggled in the final, scoring a total of 96.5 points, which was the third lowest in the final session; however, he had enough of a lead over the lower ranked shooters and managed to fend them off.

(BOCOG September 10, 2008)