NOVEMBER 17, 20 CHINA DAILY PAGE 5 BASEBALL & SHOOTING China’s teen hot shot ties world record By TANG ZHE CHINA DAILY GUANGZHOU — China has a new top gun. In a stunning performance at the Aoti Shooting Range on Tuesday, 17- year-old Zhai Yujia equaled the world record of 590 points en route to capturing the gold medal in the men’s 10m running SHOOTING target event at the Asian Games. Zhai also broke the Asian record set by his coach, double Olympic gold medalist Yang Ling, at the 2002 Lahti World Shooting Championships. Jo Yong-chol from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) won silver with 572 points, while Jeong You-jin from the Republic of Korea took the bronze medal. “I can attribute the result to the instruction of my coach and to my eff orts,” said Zhai, adding Yang has PETER PARKS / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE made a big impact on his training. Japan pitcher Yusuke Ishida throws to Uuganmyagmar Battulga of Mongolia in Tuesday’s preliminary game at the 2010 Asian Games in “He was watching me in the Guangzhou. shooting hall, and his presence encouraged me a lot.” Contrary to his star pupil’s promi- nence, mentor Yang, the 1996 and Asia’s big hitters maul Mongolia 2000 Olympic champion, missed the entire target in the second series of the slow shoot. JAPAN POUNDS OUT 24 RUNS AGAINST UNDERMANNED NOVICES “Scoring zero point is just an accident. I got distracted when I By TANG YUE the Asiad’s baseball tournament “We have very little money. raised my gun,” said Yang, who CHINA DAILY started before the first ball was The players are amateur and was competing for the fi rst time in tossed as they had to endure a don’t get paid. We have to pay our several months. GUANGZHOU — Mongolia’s 22-hour train ride to Guangzhou own fares. Th at’s why we haven’t Thanks to Zhai’s effort, Yang 24-0 drubbing at the hands of after flying into Beijing from brought many players to Guang- won a team gold that was decided Japan on Tuesday, the team’s third Ulaanbaatar. We have very little zhou,” said the 30-year-old, who is by combining results of the two straight loss in the Guangzhou Little was expected of them in money. The players are a painter by trade and coaches as a shooters from one NOC. Games’ baseball competition, a sport that has power hitters in part-time job. “It doesn’t matter if it is a big or might not have Asia, but little presence in their amateur and don’t get Before the Guangzhou small competition, once I started been so severe horse-riding and wrestling- paid. We have to pay our Games, Mongolia’s baseball team thinking of full points, I get ner- were it not for obsessed nation. own fares. appeared at only one international vous,” said Yang. an injury to its The 12-member Mongolia ‘‘ event, the 1994 Asian Games in After winning the men’s 10m BASEBALL starting pitcher. team is the smallest in the tour- MONGOLIAN COACH Hiroshima, where it fi nished last running target in Atlanta and Syd- “This is the nament. SUGARSUREN MAGVAN in a group of six. ney, Yang missed the chance to triple fi rst time I’ve ever pitched in an However fans have been disap- Despite all the obstacles, the his title at the 2004 Athens Olympics international game,” said Shijir pointed at the team’s inability to coach refuses to quit. He said due to injury. Ganbaatar, who was called up to rack up a single run in the group old Ganbaatar, registered as an things can only improve as the “Maybe I will not continue to shoot replace sidelined Khatanbaatar stage, where it has been outscored infi elder, took the mound. team works to rebuild itself in time anymore,” said the 38-year-old Yang. Batbold. 64-0. It lost 0-15 to China and Th e coach also put several other for the next Asiad in Incheon, the “I will change my focus to training “It’s also the fi rst time I’ve ever 0-25 to Thailand before being players in new and unfamiliar Republic of Korea. young shooters. I can teach them how played in a regular stadium,” he whipped by Japan. positions to compensate, but “We are a very young team and to prepare, how to shoot and how to said. “There was a lot of pres- “The results are really disap- these changes had little in the way we had no experience before,” he think, based on my experience.” sure.” pointing. Batbold is our best of positive impact. Magvan even said. “We learned a lot through Aft er taking over as Zhai’s coach Batbold was hit by a foul ball pitcher, so when he was injured, put on the catcher’s mitt to bolster these matches, and this will be more than six months ago, Yang is in the fi rst inning of the opening it was really very hard for us the under-strength team. very helpful to us as we go for- quite optimistic about the teenager’s match against China. It broke his to play,” said coach Sugarsuren He said it was unrealistic to ward.” shooting future. nose and knocked out several Magvan. “We’re also in a very dif- expect strong results from the Th e team will compete in the “I hope I can help Zhai to become teeth. He missed the next game fi cult group.” team, given that Mongolia only under-16 and under-18 tourna- the world champion, but con- against Thailand and was ruled Magvan’s game plan quickly has about 500 players and 20 ments in Asia before bidding for strained by the moving target event, out for the tournament. came unstuck when Batbold coaches for the sport, which is some redemption in Incheon, he it’s a little harder for us,” he said. Mongolia’s bumpy ride through limped off the fi eld and 20-year- chronically under-funded. added..