China's shooting stars rewrite the record books as they hit golden target

Sheng Lihao looked more assured than he did three years ago, when he emerged as one of China's youngest shooting stars at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

On Monday, the 21-year-old successfully defended his Asian Games title in the men's 10-meter air rifle at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery. He won with 254.2 points, setting both a new continental and Asian Games record.

From his opening shot in qualification to his final shot in the decisive round, Sheng endured a brief setback, fought his way back into the lead and withstood sustained pressure from India's Himanshu Dhillon and Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil.

Sheng reached the final after topping qualification with 635.4 points, improving both the Asian and Asian Games records he previously held at 634.5. Teammate Ma Sihan also advanced to the final after placing second with 633.0.