KEY POINTS:
BEIJING - In the end it was all a bit much for New Zealand air pistol shooter Yang Wang.
There he was, back in the land of his birth, shooting for his adopted home at the Beijing Olympic Games, the pinnacle of his sport.
His parents were there, his friends and family were there, and his old shooting buddies from Hebei were there.
Wang wanted to do really, really well in the 10-metre air pistol. Instead he shot worse than he had in training, scoring 571 of a possible 600 to finish 39th of 47 at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall.
There were flashes of outstanding form - for two of the six brackets, he matched most of his professional rivals - but after a shaky start he was never a shot at the eight-man final.
Wang was disappointed, he said.
"I was pretty nervous, I thought I shot pretty well but just a couple of shots I didn't do well. That cost a lot," he said.
A seven - out of a possible 10 - proved an early crippler, an irreversible setback at Olympic level.
"I had quite a few training scores here that were pretty high, but with thousands and thousands of people watching you, that's different," Wang said.
"I'm not very experienced with big competition, we're all Saturday and Sunday shooters, not like them, they're professionals."
While he was proud to return to China in New Zealand colours, that made his task even tougher, he said.
"It used to be my country, it is quite a big honour to compete in China," he said.
"That's the way it is, I've got friends here, family here, they come to watch me shoot, you've got the pressure from them as well.
"My parents came yesterday, my wife, all my relatives are watching on the TV. My teammates from my Hebei provincial team, they came over to watch me shoot ...
"You want to show them what you can do, it's pressure from the inside, nobody else gives that to you."
Now his Games are over, Wang will holiday with family in China. Then he has to find a job - he quit his old one to focus on training for Beijing.
Wei Pang of China, who shot 586 in qualifying, opened his lead in the 10-shot final to win the gold.
- NZPA
