Nigar Nasirova won gold in the women's 25 metre centre pistol yesterday causing great celebrations and emotion among home supporters.

"I also cried, I had tears in my eyes but I was very excited but I couldn’t stop the tears, I thought I could win a medal but not gold," Nasirova admitted to insidethegames.

"I didn’t focus on the gold medal, I focused on my shooting, I trained hard and did what I wanted to do."

Nasirova had won silver the previous day in the team event.

"My mum has always supported me, for some time I had stopped doing sport because of various reasons, but my mum always encouraged me to go back," Nasirova said.

"Mum always took me to different sports, I had tried different sports - athletics, swimming, basketball, even chess but I took to shooting because I had seen my aunt win an Olympic medal when I was younger."

Irada Ashumova had won Olympic bronze at Athens 2004.

"I was always watching her as she travelled to different parts of the world," Nasirova said.

"I was thinking, she is travelling but I learned that she was going to shoot and she inspired me.

"I didn't realise how hard it was going to be."

Nasirova has yet to win a quota place for Paris next year but is hoping to do so at the next European Championships in 2024.

Her mother Rugiyaa Bagirova had been watching her daughter.

"Every mother does everything she can for her children and to see her standing there crying after winning means everything to me," Bagirova said.