OLYMPICS/Sharpshooter takes Taiwan into skeet finals for first time

Paris, Aug. 3 (CNA) Taiwanese sharpshooter Lee Meng-yuan (李孟遠) on Saturday reached the final of the Olympic men's skeet event, by equaling the Olympic record over five rounds spanning two days.

With 25 clay pigeons serving as a shooter's target every round during qualification at the Olympics, the highest possible score in Olympic skeet is 125 points, with 124 being the current record.

After missing just one clay target on the second of the first three rounds on the first day of qualifiers on Friday, the 29-year-old Lee, known as a skeet prodigy in Taiwan, produced a perfect score on Saturday, hitting all 50 targets over the last two rounds at the event.

The achievement placed him on top of the leadership board with American shooter Conner Prince and Italian shooter Tammaro Cassandro, all three of whom equaled the record.

Lee's win scored him Taiwan's first men's skeet final ticket at the Olympics for later Saturday.

With all three of the shooters sharing the top spot, a shoot-off was held to divide the sharpshooters into the top three, as only the top six in the qualifiers can shoot in the finals.

The additional competition put Lee at No. 3 with seven points added to his score of 124 behind Cassandro's 11 additional points and Prince's 12.

Lee is the last man left representing the nation from Taiwan's eight-member shooting delegation, after his peers all failed to advance in their respective disciplines.

Lee is the first shooter from the nation to ever participate in the Olympic men's skeet event.