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Chinese Paralympic Delegation Close to Target at Sydney Games
China won only one Paralympic gold medal on Monday but it is closing in on the pre-Games target of winning more than 16 golds for the Sydney Games.
Huang Wei, 43, who led the qualifiers with a score of 573 points, clinched the title in the sport pistol mixed SH1 event with 669.6 points. This was also the first shooting gold for China in Sydney.
China is ranked fourth in the medal table with 15 golds, one less than it won in Atlanta four years ago, at the end of Monday's competitions.
On a day with five sports in action and 49 golds on offer, hosts Australia swept 23 golds to retain the lead with 24 golds, followed by Spain with 18 and France on 16.
China also garnered three medals in athletcis, the other sport Chinese athletes were involved in when the Games entered the fifth day.
Sun Haitao, who won the bronze medal in Sunday's javelin final, finished second in the men's discus throw F13 final here on Monday.
"I did my job, but the winner was really very strong and beyond my expectation," Sun said.
Sun's compatriot Li Qiang won the silver in men's 200 meters T12 final and Wang Juan took the bronze in women's 200m T44 race.
Zhao Qihua, the deputy chief of mission, said that although China failed to reach its expectation for Monday's event, its target is still expected to be fulfilled.
Zhao said that the eventual conclusion for China would possibly be something over 20 gold medals.
But he admitted that the worldwide sports for athletes with disabilities are developing so fast that it would be very difficult for China to do even better in terms of gold medals in Sydney. "It will take extra-ordinary efforts if we could win even more," he added.
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