WUHAN, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Winning a gold and a silver medal from women's 50m rifle prone, Norway shooting team coach said at 7th Military World Games on Monday that they always focus on team events and team build.
"It's very important for us to focus on the team events. When you have a good team, you have good individual athletes as well. We have to build the team, we have to have fun together, we have to stay together, train together and so much more. That's what makes them better individual shooters," Norway coach Stale Larsen said afterwards.
Two elite shooters Jeanette Hegg Duestad and Katrine Aannestad Lund, both from Norway, tied at 623.5 points to lead event, and Duestad was awarded the gold medal for a better score in the last series (104.2 to 103.4). Nataliia Kalnysh of Ukrainia settled for a third place finish with 623.1 points.
"So far we have already achieved more than we hoped for but of course we're always trying to do our best. We work for the medals but it gets so tight between everyone with so many good shooters there. You just have to work hard and do your job and watch the results when you're finished," Duestad said.
According to coach Larsen, shooting is a huge sport in Norway that enjoys great popularity. This probably explains the country's success in the sport.
"There's always a shooter in every family," Larsen said. "Maybe it is something about the culture. It's a big thing in Norway to do shooting at the national level.
Looking into the upcoming events in the next four days, the coach hopes his shooters could forget about their medals and get ready for the new challenges.
"The girls have said before that their best event is the 3x40 (three-position rifle). I hope we can go back now, take a break, celebrate just a little bit, and then come back in a couple of days and start working from zero points for the new competition," the coach noted.
