Cancer-battling Belgian decathlete to defend title at Gwangju Universiade

South Korean shooters captured three gold medals on Monday at the Gwangju Universiade.

The host team first lifted title in women's 25-meter pistol shooting. The trio of Kim Ji-hye, Cho Mun-hyeon and Han Ji-young combined for 1,738 points for the team gold at Naju Jeollanamdo Shooting Range in Naju, South Jeolla Province, southwest of the main host city of Gwangju.

Kim led the way with 585 points to rank third among all shooters, while Cho had 583 points for fourth place. Han had 570 points to rank 15th.

Thailand won the silver with 1,715 points, followed by Russia with 1,708 points.

Lin Yuemei of China ranked first with 588 points and another Chinese markswomen, Zhou Qingyuan, the winner of 2014 Incheon Asian Games team gold in women's 10m air pistol, had 587 points for second place.

Kim, the senior of the three at 22, thanked Han, the youngest at 20, for her contribution.

"I wanted to do well here because this is going to be my last Universiade," Kim said. "I want to thank Ji-young for the job well done. I am sure she was pretty nervous but she held it together until the end and helped us all win the gold."

Han said this was her first international competition and she had butterflies in her stomach all morning. She relied on the two veterans for some psychological support.

"I could relax knowing they could take care of business," Han said. "And it turns out we did pretty well."

This was the first shooting gold medal for South Korea in the tournament, which also opened the door for the host shooters to sweep the sport in the day.

Kim later beat China's Zhou, who's in second place in qualification and a national champion in 10m air pistol in 2014, 7-5 in gold medal showdown to win women's 25-meter pistol, wrapping up her second gold.

In bronze medal match, China's Lin, the top qualifier, overwhelmed South Korea's Cho 7-1.

South Korea then collected their third gold of the day in men's 50m pistol as Park Daehun scored 193.2 points to edge off Rinat Aiupov of Russia by 1.7 points. China's Wang Zhiwei, the London Olympics bronze medalist, had to settle with third place after firing a 8-point in the 13th shot.

Chinese coach Zhang Jianwei said he was not much surprised with the results. "South Korean shooters are doing good in air pistols in the last couple of years. I have to admit that we're the traditional pace-setters, but now we're in a position to chase up the South Koreans," said Zhang.

"China's strict gun control somehow is unfavorable for China to maintain the sport's traditional powerhouse status worldwide," added Zhang.

In men's trap, Italy's Valerio Grazini outperformed Filip Marinov of Slovakia 14-12 to stand out. Endi