BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Russian shooter Sergei Alifirenko added a gold for his country in the men's 25-meter rapid fire pistol with a far-ahead 786.7 points at the Good Luck Beijing ISSF World Cup here on Saturday.

His teammate Alexei Klimov brought back the silver with 780.9 points, leaving the bronze to Chinese shooter Zhang Penghui who achieved 778.3 points.

Stretching his arms before shooting in the final, the 49-year-old Alifirenko took the distant lead among all finalists with 586 points, four points more than Zhang and famous German shooter Ralf Schumann and five points ahead of Klimov.

Sydney Olympic champion and gold medalist of the 2005 World CupFinal, he was reckoned the favorite to win with most stable performance, with the scores in each fire-shot series recorded as 49.0, 50.5, 51.0 and 50.2, which ensured him the highest final round score of 200.7 points.

"I went to the Great Wall several days ago and the historical heritage made me open-minded," said the rapturous champion who ended his competition by blowing a kiss to spectators.

The Russian was not satisfied with his score in the qualification round. "It was bad but the score enabled me into the final. It is enough," he said.

Talking about his unique ritual before opening fire - delivering the pistol with his left hand to the right, pressing the pistol at full tilt and stretching his right arm before opening fire, the Lieutenant Colonel noted that he had been doing this for more than 30 years.

"It helps me to relax. While performing the ritual, I was praying for 10 points in each shot," he said.

In comparison, Klimov, 33, who held the current world qualification record of this discipline had more fluctuation in his performance, which started with a 48.6 followed by 50.7 and 48.1. However, a last 52.5 explained to spectators the meaning of "all's well that ends well".

"I am happy to get a silver medal but not satisfied with my scores," the restrained runner-up said.

Zhang Penghui, 30, the 2007 Asian Championships winner, had followed Alifirenko closely after the two series reported as 49.0 and 50.1. But a 47.1 in the third series, including two shots of nine-plus and two others below nine, plucked him behind.

"This performance was below my capability," he said, especially mentioned the third series, "it was, by any means, a low score. I didn't prepare well."

Playing in his homeland gave the shooter a great pressure. "Both the spectators and myself pinned high hope on me, so that I lost control," he admitted. In the citing shot, he made a 51.6 which immediately incurred thunderous applauses.

"I had little experience before, that's why today's competition was a necessary warming-up for me," he said.

After each shot, the careful Zhang would take a note. "I wrote down the position of bullet on the target and score," he said.

"I am mentally stronger than four years ago," he added. "I hope that I can do better three months later (at the Olympics)."

World record of this discipline, 788.8 points, was established by German sharpshooter Ralf Schumann, who was dubbed the "shooting machine" and bagged three Olympic gold medals in the event.

Yet the final saw him starting with a astonishingly low score of 46.3 points in the first series. And the 46-year-old German failed to restore his momentum in the follow shots, settling to a fourth.