A debutant in the final shooting range of international events, the 25-year-old slim girl was ranked second after the qualification round, with her score, 579 points, one point behind Kazakstan Olga Dovgun, one and two points ahead of Chinese Yin Wen and Du Li respectively.

In the ten-shot final, Kuznetsova didn’t do well in the first several shots. Neither did Dovgun. Whereas Du was chasing hotly with 10.4, 10.4, 10.7 and 10.4 points, Xinhua reported.

Kuznetsova restored her sharpness in the fifth shot to collected a highest of 10.8 points and surpassed Dovgun after the seventh shot.

However, a following 9.2 point in the eighth shot pulled her behind Du Li.

Dramatic scene occurred in the ninth shot, when Kuznetsova scored a decent 10.1, Du only got 9.8. This posed the duo in a draw.

In the important final shot, Kuznetsova got another 10.1, while Du collected a lowest 9.4 to end with a silver.

"The final is quite an ordeal for me," said the beaming girl afterwards, "although I didn’t know the change of ranks and only learnt of my success from the gesture of my teammates outside the range."

Du, World Record holder of women’s 10-meter air rifle who was crowned in the event again here on Thursday, said it was a pity to lose in women’s 50-meter rifle three positions.

"I did my best, anyway," she said, "My score in the qualification round is too low."

Du’s qualification scores in prone, standing and kneeling were 198, 191 and 187 points. Her total score was 677.6 points.

Olga Dovgun who fell to the third got a bronze with 677.0 points. Yin Wen finished as the fourth with 675.9 points.