OLYMPICS/Sharpshooter bags Taiwan's first medal at Paris Olympics

Paris, Aug. 3 (CNA) Taiwanese sharpshooter Lee Meng-yuan (李孟遠) on Saturday bagged a bronze in the men's skeet event at the Olympic Games in Paris Saturday, the first medal Team Taiwan has won at the 2024 Summer Games.

Lee, the first shooter from Taiwan to ever participate in the Olympic men's skeet event, emerged from 30 athletes after two days of qualification rounds to become one of three men with the joint highest score among the six shooters who reached the final at the Chateauroux Shooting Center.

The 29-year-old Lee and Conner Prince of the United States and Tammaro Cassandro of Italy, competed in shoot-off to decide their standing in the finals, with Lee finishing in the third place.

Shooters are eliminated one by one in the final, and Lee managed to stay in the competition until he ended in bronze-medal position, leaving American shooter Vincent Hancock and his student Price to compete for the gold.

Hancock won the gold medal by making 58 of the 60 shots, while Price, made 57 out of 60.

The eight-member shooting team is the largest single event team among Taiwan's Olympic delegation of 60 athletes in Paris, but the seven other members failed to advance in their respective disciplines before Lee reached the finals on Saturday.

In Taipei, both President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) and Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) sent their congratulations to Lee via social media for winning an historic first ever medal in the sport for Taiwan.