Cuiping grabs first gold

Zhang Cuiping won the first gold medal of the London Paralympics as the shooting got underway.

Chinese shooter class above her rivals

China's Zhang Cuiping won the first gold medal of the London Paralympics as the shooting got underway at the Royal Artillery Barracks on Thursday. Zhang set a new world record in the women's R2-10 metres air rifle standing SH1 and the 24-year-old was a class above her rivals as she finished with 500.9 points, well clear of Germany's Manuela Schmermund in second with Australian Natalie Smith taking bronze. Zhang set a new Paralympic record in qualifying with 396 points and she was equally accurate in the final with a 104.9 total. Schmermund finished with 493.6 points and Smith 492.4. Another Australian, 70-year-old grandmother Elizabeth Kosmala, the oldest competitor at London 2012, was eighth in the final with 488.7.