“Before that shot, I thought we were going to end up in third place,” Park Ha-jun said. Then he fired a 10.9, the maximum, and South Korea held on to silver in the 10-meter air rifle mixed team event at the Asian Games.
Park and Ban Hyo-jin finished with 502.9 points at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery in Toyota, about 25 kilometers east of the main host city, Nagoya. China’s Wang Zifei and Sheng Lihao won gold with a world record 507.1. Japan took bronze with 439.7, and India was fourth of the four teams with 376.3. It was South Korea’s first silver in shooting at these Games, after two bronzes.
How the final unfolded
Each shooter fired 15 shots in the first stage, 30 per team, with 10.9 the highest possible score. After those shots South Korea was third on 314.3. China led on 315.7, Japan was second on 314.9 and India last on 312.3.
In the second stage, each shooter took three shots, and the lowest-scoring team dropped out after each six-shot series. India went first, with South Korea trailing Japan 378.2 to 378.1. The bronze was settled over the next six shots, and the last two teams fought for gold over the final six.
China pulled away. Behind them, South Korea and Japan traded places. With one shot left per shooter in that series, Korea sat 0.8 points behind Japan. Park, who had earlier shot a 9.9, hit his 10.9, and Korea edged ahead 440.1 to 439.7. China was far ahead on 443.6. In the closing shots Ban and Park scored 10.7 and 9.7, and Wang and Sheng answered with 10.8 and 10.7, which all but sealed gold for China.
Partners for three years
Park could not resist teasing his partner. “I knew right then I was going to brag about it with Hyo-jin,” he said. “As soon as we finished, I told her, ‘You won this silver all thanks to me.’” Ban, for her part, said she suspected he was saving his best for last. “It is more fun to win a medal with a comeback like this,” she said. “I felt Ha-jun knew what he was doing.”
The pair have shot together in this event for nearly three years and say chemistry has never been a problem. Both had already medaled in Toyota. Ban won bronze in the women’s 10m air rifle individual event and Park won bronze in the men’s team event. Park now has medals from two straight Asian Games in the mixed team event, after bronze three years ago. This is the first Asian Games for Ban, the 2024 Olympic gold medalist and 2025 world champion in the individual event.
“We will try to beat China next time,” Park said. He expects to team with Ban again at the world championships in November. South Korea still awaits its first shooting gold here, having aimed for at least five.
Sources
- (LEAD) (Asiad) S. Korea picks up silver in mixed team shooting event | Yonhap News Agency
- South Korea picks up silver in mixed team shooting
