by sportswriters Wang Meng, Niu Mengtong and Shen Nan

GUANGZHOU, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- The sharp crack of gunfire echoed across the shooting range at China's 15th National Games. Standing just behind the line, Serbian coach Jelena Arunovic, the only foreign face in the hall, watched each shot with quiet intensity. Calm and composed, her eyes followed every movement of her Guangdong athletes.

Only a year ago, Arunovic was celebrating her sister's Olympic triumph in Paris. Now, in Guangzhou, she is channeling that same passion into guiding a new generation of Chinese air pistol shooters toward their own moments of glory.

"For 15 years, I was expecting that call from China," said the Serbian, who had competed in China five times as an athlete, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua. "I didn't have second thoughts about it. I just said, 'Let's go.'"

The 44-year-old coach arrived in October 2024, shortly after the Paris Olympic Games, where she helped her younger sister Zorana Arunovic capture gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team event. That victory marked the end of one journey and the beginning of another, half a world away.

FROM SISTER TO COACH

The story of the Arunovic sisters is one of devotion, resilience and shared ambition -- a bond strengthened by hardship. Their father passed away when Zorana was 13 and Jelena 19, a loss that placed new responsibility on the older sister's shoulders.

"That was a very difficult period for the whole family," Jelena recalled, her tone softening. In the wake of their father's death, she made a promise that would shape both their lives: "I will take care about you."

Jelena discovered shooting at 14, drawn to the sport as something she could enjoy with classmates. Naturally, her younger sister followed. "I pulled her in," Jelena said with a smile. "She wanted to spend more time with me. She wanted to do the same things as me."

After entering the national team at 17, Jelena's analytical mind soon found its true calling in coaching. Following the 2010 World Championships in Munich, where she finished 48th in the 25m pistol, she decided to shift from athlete to coach.

"That was my highest achievement, and I saw no space for improvement. But still that was not enough to make some meaningful results in the individual events. I was very honest to myself, and I said to myself I need to switch to the coaching," she explained.

Zorana became her most important student, and the transition was not without challenges. "It's very difficult because coaching is a completely different role," Jelena said. "It's very difficult to see your sister suffering, and you need to put her in that training regime so she suffers a little bit, so you can develop her."

To make it work, they had to separate family from training. "At my place I am a sister, loving, gentle sister, but at the range, no love, no law, just business," she said. "It was a problem for me to accept that, it was a problem for her to accept that as well. But at the end, we managed to make some good things together."

Their partnership reached its peak in Paris, when Zorana finally claimed the Olympic gold medal they had chased for three Olympic cycles. Jelena vividly remembers that morning. "We both woke up at 4:00 a.m. and we were walking around the building in pajamas, preparing for something that is about to happen," she recalled. "I remember that I threw my things in the air. It was really a big deal for us."

A NEW LIFE IN CHINA

After the dream-fulfilling moment in Paris, Jelena was ready for a new challenge, coming to a country she described as a "paradise" for shooters, with "good coaches, perfect equipment... everything."

What impressed her most was the warmth and hospitality she met from the very beginning. She still remembers her first evening in China, when a Guangdong team official knocked on her door and handed her a cup of bubble tea as a welcome gift.

That kindness extended beyond her own team. During a national competition in Shanghai, Huang Wenhong, a Fujian and national team coach whom she knew from international events, invited her to dinner. "From my first competition in China, she was there to help me, to support me and everything," Arunovic said, describing Huang as "the best."

"Everyone is so friendly," she said. "That was my first impression. Even though I don't speak Chinese well, everyone accepted me very warmly."

She contrasted this openness with the distance often felt in Europe. "In Europe, we tend to keep a bit of distance when there are language barriers. But here, everyone was so friendly, which completely won me over."

The support system around her has been essential in adapting to a new culture and environment. "They gave me enough time to understand everything," she said. "I feel I have 100 percent support from the director, from the management, from everyone. This is really not something you see very often."

Beyond the shooting range, Jelena has embraced Chinese life with curiosity and enthusiasm. She has mastered chopsticks and become an adventurous explorer of local cuisine. When asked her favorite dish, she paused for thought before answering: "Cheung Fun," the delicate Cantonese steamed rice rolls often enjoyed at breakfast.

She proudly introduced herself to Xinhua reporters in fluent Mandarin: "Hello, I'm Jelena Arunovic, a shooting coach now in Guangdong, China."

Her connection to China is shared by her sister Zorana, who has long admired the country. A devoted panda lover, Zorana has a panda tattoo on her arm and carries a Bing Dwen Dwen keychain, the Beijing 2022 mascot, on her competition bag. She also won silver at the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, a city that has become part of their shared story.

After the National Games concludes, Jelena looks toward her Chinese future with characteristic determination. She hopes to finally visit the Guangdong Provincial Museum, a plan previously thwarted by a typhoon.

From Belgrade to Guangzhou, from sister to coach, Jelena has found a new rhythm - one that blends discipline with discovery, and family with purpose. In China, she has not only found a team to guide, but a place that feels, in her own words, "like home." Enditem