S. Korea earns silver, bronze in team shooting events
South Korea's Hong Su-hyeon, left, and Chu Ga-eun celebrate after winning the mixed team 10-meter air pistol event for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at the Aichi Prefectural Shooting Range, Japan, Sept. 25. Yonhap
NAGOYA, Japan — South Korea won a silver medal and a bronze medal in team shooting events at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday, raising its total in the sport to eight.
Choo Ga-eun and Hong Su-hyeon won silver in the 10-meter air pistol mixed team event with 478 points at Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery in Toyota, some 25 kilometers east of the main host city of Nagoya.
This was Choo's third medal at this year's Asiad, following her gold medal in the women's 10m air pistol individual event and silver medal in the 10m air pistol team event Wednesday, and Hong's first career Asian Games medal.
At the same venue, South Korea took bronze in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions team event with 1,751 points, 15 behind the winner, China.
The team medals were determined based on the combined scores of three shooters for each team in their individual qualification.
Joung Seung-woo topped South Korea with 592 points, the second-highest total in the individual qualification. Teammates Park Sung-hyun and Gwon Hyeop-jun chipped in 580 points and 579 points, respectively.
In the individual final held later Friday, Joung finished in seventh place among eight shooters with 304.2 points.
In the 10m air pistol mixed team final, the Indian duo of Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet set an Asian continental record with 484.6 points. Haniyeh Rostamiyan and Vahid Golkhandan of Iran grabbed the bronze with 415.8 points.
In Stage 1 of the final, each shooter took 15 shots, for a total of 30 shots per team, with the perfect score being 10.9 points.
After the initial 30 shots, the shooters each fired three shots for six shots per team to begin Stage 2, and the lowest-scoring team at that point ended in fourth place.
The bronze medal was determined after six more shots per team, and the two remaining teams battled over the final six shots for the gold medal.
Following the first stage, South Korea ranked second with 300.2 points, with India leading the way at 303.5 points.
With Iran well back in third place at 295 points, it appeared to be a two-horse race for the gold between South Korea and India.
After the first six shots in Stage 2, India pulled further ahead to 364.7 points, with South Korea at 358.9 points. Indonesia was eliminated at 349.4 points, while Iran stayed in third at 355.8 points.
Then, after six more shots, Iran was eliminated at 415.8 points to take the bronze medal, unable to catch South Korea despite its late push.
South Korea, though, trailed India by 8.4 points with six shots remaining, 424.9 to 416.5.
South Korea made up some ground over the first four shots of the final series but still ended up 6.6 points back of the champion.
Choo said she was honored to have won three medals in her first Asian Games appearance.
"This experience will stay with my whole family for a long time," Choo said. "I will try to perform even better at the world championships in November."
Hong, who finished fourth in the men's individual event Thursday with his parents watching from the stands, said he tried to put that disappointment behind him quickly.
"I wanted to accept the outcome and move on," he said. "I am so happy I won this medal today, and I can't wait to show it to my parents."