CHATEAUROUX — South Korean shooters Park Ha-jun and Keum Ji-hyeon secured a silver medal in the 10-meter air rifle mixed team event at the Paris Olympics, marking the country's first medal of the 33rd Summer Games.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the duo faced Sheng Lihao and Huang Yuting of China in the gold medal match at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre, located roughly 270 kilometers south of Paris. The Chinese team won the match 16-12. This event was notably the first medal event of the Paris Olympics, setting a competitive tone for the games. During the match, each shooter aimed to score as close to 10.9 points per shot, with the sum of their scores deciding the team's round total and the higher-scoring team earning two points per series.
The competition saw the South Korean team initially taking the lead but eventually falling behind as the Chinese pair dominated subsequent rounds. Despite a close contest where Park and Keum narrowed the gap to 14-12, the Chinese shooters excelled in the final series, securing their victory. This silver medal comes as a significant achievement for South Korea, which had set a target to improve upon their performance from the 2021 Olympics, where they won only one silver medal.
Park and Keum reflected on their performance, acknowledging their efforts and the support they drew from each other throughout the competition. Park, who also won South Korea's first shooting medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, expressed optimism about the performances of other South Korean athletes in the ongoing Olympics.