Chinese rapid shooters have been dreaming of an Olympic gold medal for twenty years, however, they suffered a blow despite comfortable wins here at the 15th Asiad here on Wednesday.

Chinese marksman Tan Zongliang aims for his shot on target in the men's 50m pistol final at the Lusail shooting complex during the 15th Asian Games in Doha December 5, 2006. [Reuters]

The Chinese trio, composed of Liu Zhongsheng, a 33-year-old debutant, Zhang Penghui, the world champion and Liu Guohui, the reigning champion, achieved a fourth straight win in the team event and swept the top three positions in the individual rankings.

"I cannot manage to be excited, as their scores were not good at all," said coach Sheng Haoming.

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Liu Zhongsheng, the winner, collected 579 points in the qualification round and 199.4 points in the 20-shot final. Zhang shot 580 points in the qualification and 198.1 points in the final.

"I did not perform very well today as I feel pressured," said Liu.

For Zhang, it was even more upset. "I am really not satisfied with the result. I should have performed a lot better than that," said Zhang.

"My pressure disturbed me a lot," he added. "It put me out of my form today. I couldn't even perform at my normal standard."

"In the training sessions, they can shoot around 585 points in the qualification," said Sheng. "As for Zhang, who is among the world's top final shooters, the score of 198.1 was almost a shame. "

Zhang now owns the highest 20-shot final round score of 204.6 points after new rules about the weapons were adopted since 2005.

"They (the Chinese shooters) should learn to deal with pressure in such a multi-sport meet. Otherwise, they may fail at the Beijing Olympics," Sheng added.

The Chinese rapid shooters Chen Yongqiang and Zhang Penghui went to the Athens Olympics with great ambition and confidence, but finished only sixth and seventh respectively.

"Our target is always the Olympic gold medal," said Sheng. " However, the opponents throughout the world are very tough."

Ralf Schumann, tripple Olympic gold medalist, is considered the top opponent.

"He is an all-time great shooter," said Sheng. "Although he failed to make the final in the world championships this July, he is still the favorite for the event."