BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Russian shooter Grigorii Shamakov clinched the first gold medal of the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympics on Sunday by winning the 10m boys' air rifle event.

The 18-year-old finished with a final score of 249.2 points, ahead of India's Shahu Mane (247.5 points) and Serbia's Aleska Mitrovic (227.9 points) at Sarmiento Park.

China's Zhang Changhong finished fourth with 205.6 points.

"I didn't have the best start but I was able to keep calm and improve," Shamakov said. "I had a plan to prepare to win the gold medal and I'm very happy that I have managed to achieve that."

Mane said he was delighted with his performance, despite narrowly falling short of victory.

"I feel very proud after winning silver and happy that I started the medal tally for India," he said.

The competition began with a 60-shot qualification round, from which eight progressed to the next stage. Athletes were then eliminated on a round-by-round basis before the final two contested the gold medal.