Italian shooter Chiara Cainero won the gold of women's skeet after a shoot-off at the Beijing Shooting Range on Thursday. Her score, 93 hits, set an Olympic record for the rule changing.

Sharing the same score with the champion, American Kimberly Rhode nailed down the silver and German shooter Christine Brinker got the bronze.

Gold medalist at the 2006 World Cup Final and runner-up in 2007, the 30-year-old collected 72 hits in the qualification round to lead among six finalists, while the American, 29, and the German, 27, notched up 70 hits as third and fourth.

With a good start, Cainero missed the first of the three targets in the second series and the last in the third series.

This dragged her to the same line with Rhode and Brinker who boasted an all-hit record so far.

In the competition later on, the trio each missed two birds in heavy rain and was forced to a shoot-off.

The baby-faced Rhode, Athens and Atlanta Olympics double trap champion, started first. She managed to knock down the first plate but let go of the second.

The brown-haired 2007 world champion did the same.

When Cainero raised her gun, her compatriots carrying Italian national flag were about to cheer.

And the pretty shooter did let them down. Two hits. The gold was hers.

In the following stage of the prolonged shoot-off, Rhode rallied to down both target while Brinker lapsed again, surrendering the silver to the smiling blonde.

Chinese shooter Wei Ning entered the final with the same score of a 70 hits. But she failed to hold her nerves and plunged to the sixth.

World record holder Danka Bartekova from Slovakia and defending champion Diana Igaly from Hungary finished 8th and 13th, failing to advance to the final.

(Xinhua News Agency August 14, 2008)