Zhang took gold in the men's 10 metre pistol after a tussle with Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist Damir Mikec of Serbia who eventually had to settle for silver again on 240.8 points.

Bronze went to Kiril Kirov of Bulgaria 215.7 

Zhang and Kirov also clinched a quota place for the Paris 2024 Olympics along with Robin Walter of Germany and Jason Solari of Switzerland.

"I am very happy to get the quota place, I had a responsibility to get it for the country," Zhang said,

"I still have to work hard for the team and do my best in the competition,

Zhang had enjoyed a close fought contest with Mikec for the gold medal.

"In a shooting competition you always need beat yourself so I tried to focus on myself so I wasn't afraid of any other competitor," Zhang added.

In the men's team pistol event run concurrently with the qualification competition

Zhang joined Liu Junhui and Li Yue to take gold with a total score of 1,749 points.

Germany's Robin Walter, Michael Schwald and Paul Froelich took silver with 1,743 by one point from India's trio of Shiva Narwal, Sarabjot SIngh and Arjun Singh Chima who scored 1,742 for bronze .

Jiang Ranxin completed a memorable opening day for China in the women's 10m air pistol final after a close tussle with Anna Korakaki of Greece but insisted she was not intimidated by Korakaki's reputation as an Olympic medallist.

Jiang finished with a score of 239.8 to edge out Korakaki on 238.3.

Another Chinese shooter Li Xue recorded a score of 218,9 to take the bronze.

Korakaki had won gold at the ISSF World Cup held here earlier in the year but it was Jiang who proved nerveless in the decisive moments,

"During the competition I was very calm so I did not care about other athletes," Jiang said

"I am enjoying the competition here, we are all trying to do our best, and I have done very hard work during training and try to keep calm during the competition."

There was heartbreak for Iran's Golnoush Sebghatollahi who was not permitted to start in the final after equipment failure.

China took also gold in the team event with Jiang joined by Li Xue and Qian Wei who scored  a combined total of 1,728.

Hungary's Sara Fabian, Veronika Major and Miriam Jako took silver with 1,726 and bronze went to Iranian trio of Golnoush Sebghatollahi, Haniyeh Rostamiyan and Mina Ghorbani.

The crowd had been encouraged to participate. 

"This is not a library," the announcer said and the crowd responded with rhythmic clapping as music played in the background.