Chinese markswoman Wei Ning added another gold for her country at the Good Luck Beijing ISSF World Cup with 97 hits in women's skeet on Thursday.

Italian shooter Diana Bacosi and American Haley Dunn took the silver and bronze with an equal score of 94 hits.

Achieving a leading 72 points in the qualification round, the 26-year-old Wei enlarged her advantage in the final round by getting all the birds.

In fact, the gold medal dropped upon her before the two-target last series, when world champion and Athens Olympics runner-up already enjoyed a sheer advantage against the second of three hits.

The second, third and fourth were decided among Bacosi, Dunn, who was gold medalist of the 2005 World Cup Final in Dubai, and Sweden shooter Nathalie Larsson at the most difficult position No.4 in the middle.

The trio all downed the first pair of birds.

Larsson and Dunn both missed the second target in the second pair, sending their Italian rival to the silver podium.

In the third pair, Dunn managed to take down both, while Larsson saw one flying by again.

Another Chinese shooter, champion of the Barcelona Olympic Games, Zhang Shan, entered the final as the second-placer with 71 hits in the qualification round.

But a lapse in the fourth target eliminated her tiny cushion compared with the pursuing four finalists. Then three consecutive misses in the 13th, 14th and 15th shots pulled her further behind.

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2008)