Alin George Moldoveanu of Romania fired 702.1 points to bring the delegation the first London Olympic gold medal from men's 10m air rifle on Monday.

Alin George Moldoveanu celebrates with?Gagan Narang after the men's 10m air rifle competition. [Xinhua]

Niccolo Campriani from Italy scored 701.5 to book the silver, and Indian star Gagan Narang bagged the bronze with 701.1 points.

It was Romania's second medal and the first gold medal in London Olympics.

"I just want to dedicate the gold medal to Romanian people," said Moldoveanu. "I am very happy and actually I never thought about it."

Campriani, losing at very small margin, was also satisfied with the silver medal.

"It's a great day for me," said Campriani.

"It's also great for the sport in Italy. At least that will keep the kids staying in the range."

Campriani was to compete for another medal in men's 3 positions event. "The match was a good preparation for 3 positions. And 3 positions was my favourite one," said Campriani.

The 29-year-old shooter, who equalled the Olympic record in the qualification with 599 points, delivered a steady performance in the final. Campriani also made 599 points, and the final became a competition of the two great shooters.

Moldoveanu started the final competition with a 10.3, getting above Campriani by 0.6 points to take the leading place. He kept leading until the sixth shot, in which he made 9.9 and the Italian star scored 10.8. Moldoveanu dropped to the second place.

The competition seemed to get into the Italian track, but Campriani's 9.9 for the eighth shot and 9.4 for the ninth shot threw the advantage back to Moldoveanu.

Moldoveanu didn't let go the final chance, shooting down a beautiful 10.3 to take home the gold medal.

Moldoveanu started his shooting competition at the age of 16. However, the experienced shooter was kept away from Olympic podium until Mondy. The closest time for him was Beijing Olmypics four years ago. He fired 596 points to get into the final, only to stay on the fourth place after the final shot.

The London gold was also the first medal for Moldoveanu after he took gold on the ISSF World Cup final.

Chinese favourite Zhu Qinan, the current final world record holder and the gold medalist in 2004 Olympics, failed to move into the final after his fatal 9-point fire at his very last shot. Chinese Wang Tao ended the final with 700.4 points, getting himself a fourth place.

Matthew Emmons from the United State had a disastrous qualification stage. He made two 9s in the two starting shots, driving himself out of the gold competition. He got the 35th place overall with a total score of 590 points.

The Royal Atillery Barracks shooting range would see the gold from men's skeet on Tuesday.

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