London: South Korean marksman Jin Jong-oh overcame a suddenly nervy ending to win the 10-meter air pistol gold medal on Saturday and improve on his silver in Beijing.
Jin, who took a two-point lead into the final, appeared set to cruise home as he increased his lead to four halfway through the 10-shot final.
But four straight 9-rings cut his lead to less than two.
Then he pulled off the best score of the final, a near-perfect 10.8, to leave no doubt. He raised his arms in silent celebration as others were yet to finish.
Jin totaled 688.2 for his second Olympic gold. He will defend the 50m title next Sunday at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
Italian policeman Luca Tesconi rose from fifth for the silver medal in his first games, and Andrija Zlatic of Serbia was steady for the bronze, scoring 685.2, just six-tenths of a point from matching Tesconi.
Defending champion Pang Wei of China finished fourth. Pang went into the final lying second, but dropped out of the medal spots with two 9-rings with his seventh and eighth shots and couldn't make them up.
Oleh Omelchuk of Ukraine also fell out of the medal positions after being the only shooter to hit 10s with his first seven shots. Then he made an 8.5.
European champion Pablo Carrera of Spain was sixth.
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