Asian Games Choo Ga-eun captures gold in women's 10m air pistol shooting
Summary
Choo Ga-eun won gold in the women’s 10-meter air pistol event at the ongoing Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, giving South Korea its first gold of the competition. She set a new Asian record of 246.3 points in her debut and also finished 0.7 point short of the world record. China’s Shen Yijao took silver and Jiang Ranxin won bronze. The victory made Choo the first South Korean to win this event since 2010.
Key Facts
- Choo scored 246.3 points, breaking the previous Asian record of 245.3 points set by Yukari Konishi in December 2017.
- Her 246.3-point total also exceeded the previous Asian Games competition record of 242.1 points set by Palak Gulia in 2023.
- Choo had earlier set an Asian Games competition record of 582 points in qualification and helped South Korea win silver in the team event.
- The final used a format in which eight shooters fired 10 initial shots in two series before single-shot eliminations began.
- Choo became the first South Korean to win the women’s 10-meter air pistol event at the Asian Games since 2010.
South Korean shooter Choo Ga-eun takes aim at the target during the women's 10-meter air pistol final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery in Toyota, Wednesday. Yonhap
NAGOYA, Japan — Choo Ga-eun was on target for the gold medal in the women's 10-meter air pistol event at the ongoing Asian Games on Wednesday, bringing South Korea its first gold of the competition.
Choo scored a new Asian record of 246.3 points to win her first Asian Games gold medal in her debut at Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Gallery in Toyota, some 25 kilometers east of the main host city of Nagoya.
Shen Yijao of China was a distant second with 241.3 points, and her countrywoman Jiang Ranxin took the bronze with 221.6 points.
The previous Asian record had been 245.3 points set by Yukari Konishi of Japan in December 2017.
Choo's score was also an Asian Games competition record, topping the previous mark of 242.1 points scored by Palak Gulia in 2023.
Earlier in the day, Choo set an Asian Games competition record in the qualification round with 582 points and helped South Korea win silver in the team event, which awards medals based on the combined scores of three shooters for each country.
In the final, Choo came up 0.7 point shy of breaking the world record.
With eight shooters in action, the final started with 10 shots, fired across two series of five shots each, with a 250-second time limit per series and a perfect score of 10.9.
After that, single shots were fired, with a 50-second limit per shot. After every two shots, the lowest-ranked shooter was eliminated.
Following the first series of five shots, Choo was at the top with 51.8 points, 0.7 point ahead of Shen.
Choo maintained her lead after the next series of five shots with 101.6 points, with Cheng Yen-Ching of Chinese Taipei now in second place, 0.3 point behind the South Korean.
During the single-shot stage, Choo kept increasing her lead, while Shen, Cheng and Jiang took turns in moving into second place.
After the 17th shot, Choo's lead over Shen grew to 3.1 points. Jiang grabbed second place over the next shot, but Choo still had a 2.5-point lead.
Following the 19th shot, with Cheng in second place, Choo held a 2.7-point lead at 194.8 to 192.1, with four shooters left standing.
With 22 shots fired, only Choo and Shen were left in the final, and the South Korean held a 4.1-point lead at 225.9 to 221.8, a virtually insurmountable gap with only two shots remaining. At that point, Choo was not just chasing the gold medal, but also going after the world record of 246.9 points, set in March 2017 by Zorana Arunovic of Serbia.
Choo scored 10.6 points with her 23rd shot to reach 236.5 points. She needed 10.5 points to get Arunovic out of the record books, but settled for 9.8 points with her final shot.
It was more than enough for a comfortable victory, which made Choo the first South Korean to win this event since 2010.
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