Chinese Liu Yuanyuan took a silver in the women's 10km pursuit in Harbin on Wednesday, nailing the host's first medal of biathlon so far at the 24th Harbin Winter Universiade.

The 26-year-old missed five targets in the shooting range, one more than the gold medallist Anna Kunaeva of Russia. That let Liu race one extra penalty lap, trailing the Russian by 19.4 seconds.

Anna, runner-up in the 2006 European Championship, combined a strong skiing with accurate shooting to finish the race first in 33 minutes 14.7 seconds, missing just 4 of 20 targets.

Poland's Weronika Novakowska took the bronze with a further 20.8 seconds than Liu with five missed targets.

The five-day biathlon events will continue with both men's and women's mixed relay on Friday. The Russian biathletes have swept five of six golds on offer up to now.

(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2009)