The Korean women's shooting team won a silver medal in the 25m pistol team event at the 2026 Aichi Nagoya Asian Games.
The team, consisting of Bong Seo-rin (Gwangju Sports Council), Oh Ye-jin (IBK Industrial Bank), and Yang Ji-in (Woori Bank), scored a total of 1735 points (with 65 Xs) during the individual and team preliminary rounds held on September 28 at the Aichi Prefectural Comprehensive Shooting Range in Japan.
Team medals are determined by adding the preliminary scores of three athletes from each country without a separate final round. Korea finished second, edging out Taiwan (1734 points, 48 Xs) by just one point. The gold medal went to China, which scored 1743 points (68 Xs).
Korea led the team event after the previous day's precision shooting, finishing with a combined score of 870 points, two points ahead of China (868 points).
However, complications arose during the rapid fire event. Yang Ji-in, who was leading the individual standings with a score of 292 from the precision shooting, exceeded the firing time limit on her 21st shot in the rapid fire. In rapid fire, shooters must wait seven seconds with their guns raised, and once the green light turns on, they must shoot within three seconds. The shot that exceeded the time limit was scored as zero.
Despite scoring 89 points on her remaining nine shots, Yang's efforts were not enough to recover. She added 283 points in rapid fire, finishing with a total of 575 points (27 Xs) and placing 17th overall. A strong contender for the gold medal, having won at the 2024 Paris Olympics, she was unable to advance to the finals.
With the team medal in jeopardy, veteran shooter Bong Seo-rin stepped up. After finishing 12th in precision shooting with a score of 289, she competed in the final group for rapid fire.
Bong scored 98 points in her first 10 shots of rapid fire. Although she stumbled with 47 points in the next five shots, she quickly regained her composure, scoring a perfect 50 points in the following five shots. She added 97 points in her final 10 shots, completing the rapid fire with a score of 292 and elevating Korea's team ranking to second place.
Bong finished with a total of 581 points (14 Xs), securing a spot in the individual finals for the top eight competitors.
Oh Ye-jin combined her scores of 289 in precision shooting and 290 in rapid fire for a total of 579 points (24 Xs), finishing 10th and missing out on the finals.
This silver medal marks Korea's fourth consecutive podium finish in this event, following a bronze medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Games, a gold medal at the 2014 Incheon Games, and another bronze at the 2022 Hangzhou Games. The event was not held at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.
The individual finals are scheduled to take place at 2:15 PM at the same venue. Bong Seo-rin, the only Korean athlete to reach the finals, will aim for her first gold medal in the individual event. Korea's best individual result in this event remains a silver medal won by Buseon Hee at the 1994 Hiroshima Games.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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