(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-12-11 09:14

KUWAIT CITY - When Jia Zhanbo, who just won a quota place for China in the men's 50-meter rifle prone event, stood on the medal platform of Asian Shooting Championships waving to the audiences, his smile was reminiscent of a similar scene in February 2004.

Jia Zhanbo poses before cameras after winning the men's 50-meter rifle prone event at the Asian Shooting Championships in Kuwait City December 10, 2007. He won with overwhelming 700.00 points to get a quota place for next year's Olympics. [Xinhua]

It was then that the man from Central China's populous Henan Province debuted in international arena. By grabbing the silver medal of men's 50-meter rifle in the Asian Shooting Championships and at the same time securing China an Olympic quota place, he was embarked on a way to Olympic crown.

This time, however, something was different: his silver medal was changed to a gold.

"To win and to lose are both common for athletes," Jia seemed more placid after years' of competition. "I wanna show my real capability."

The 33-year-old soft-spoken marksman made his name in the 2004 Athens Olympics by grabbing gold in men's 50-meter rifle three positions after American Matthew Emmons dramatically hit a wrong target and achieved a big fat zero in the last shot of the final.

Hadn't expected the success, Jia well remembered the first time when he mounted the Olympic champion platform. "I was so nervous as to hear my own heartbeats," he said.

But God favors the prepared. Jia is among the most diligent athletes in the shooting team.

Tough trainings left him neck illness. In 2005, he had to hospitalize for two months, and even now the man takes physical therapy every day.

Despite the illness, Jia has been recognized as "a reliable athlete" by Wang Yifu, head coach of the Chinese national shooting team.

In the competition on Monday, he proved his indisputable sharpness by walking away with the gold with a far-ahead 700.0 points.

Marching into the final by sharing the same leading score of 595 with Indian shooting star Gagan Narang, the sharpshooter scored each shot of the ten-shot final above ten, including two 10.6 points, two 10.8 points and a 10.9 point.

"I had full preparation before the competition, " said the gold medalist, "I am here to nail down the ticket."

Preparation is one thing, and confidence is another.

Jia noted that before the competition, he gave a lesson to junior shooters.

"I told them, 'just watch my performance. Let me tell you how to surpass others and win the gold'."

"The job of athletes is to take part in competitions and do your best. The Asian Shooting Championships and the Olympic Games are just competitions with larger scale," he grinned.

Talking about his five-year-old boy, Jia suddenly became tender. The busy father who is currently ranked No. 1 in the group of men's 50-meter rifle three positions and eager to improve his weakest standing part in hadn't returned home for months.

"As I was always bustling between competitions all over the world, he would ask me each time in the phone call 'father, where are you now'," he said, "later I will call him to report my success today, 'I got two gold medals (one individual gold and one team gold) for you, son, and next time, I would get you more'."