Korean shooting athletes reached the podium for the second consecutive day at the 2026 Nagoya Asian Games. However, the anticipated medals in the men's 10m air rifle individual event did not materialize.
On September 21, at the Aichi Prefectural Comprehensive Shooting Range in Japan, Shin Min-ki finished the men's 10m air rifle final with a score of 166.2, placing 6th.
Shin qualified for the final in 9th place, as three Chinese competitors secured spots in the top eight. Each country is allowed a maximum of two athletes in the final.
Park Ha-jun, who also competed in the final, scored 145.7 points, finishing in 7th place. Despite qualifying in 4th during the preliminaries, he expressed disappointment over his performance.
Nonetheless, both Shin and Park earned a bronze medal in the team event, based on their strong preliminary scores, alongside Kwon Hyup-jun, who ranked 28th in the preliminaries. The team event ranks competitors based on the combined scores of three athletes from the individual preliminaries.
This achievement marks the second consecutive day that the Korean shooting team has stood on the podium. The previous day, Ban Hyo-jin, a gold medalist at the Paris Olympics, secured a bronze in the women's 10m air rifle individual event.
Shooting has historically been the sport in which South Korea has won the most medals at the Asian Games. The current team features several standout athletes who have excelled at the Paris Olympics, including Ban Hyo-jin (gold in women's 10m air rifle), Park Ha-jun (silver in mixed team event), Oh Ye-jin (gold in women's 10m air pistol), and Yang Ji-in (gold in women's 25m pistol).
Oh Ye-jin is set to compete for gold in the women's 10m air pistol team event on September 23 and the women's 25m pistol team event on September 28, alongside Yang Ji-in. There is also potential for them to achieve strong results in their individual events.
Additionally, the Asian Games may see the emergence of new talents, as South Korea is known for its strong shooting program and deep pool of talent. It remains to be seen how many more medals the South Korean shooting team can add to their tally at this event.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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