"Thought It Was a Bronze"… Dramatic Comeback Driven by a 10.9-Point Bullseye [AG Video]

"There were many areas where I fell short today, but thanks to Hyo-jin filling in those gaps, we achieved a great result."

These were the words of Park Ha-jun (KT), who dramatically edged past Japan with a crucial final shot to claim the silver medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games today (September 22).

Ban Hyo-jin (Daegu Public Facilities Management Corporation) and Park Ha-jun scored 252.6 and 250.3 points respectively in the final held at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Range in Japan, combining for a total of 502.9 points to finish second behind China (507.1 points).

This marks the first silver medal for the South Korean shooting delegation, which had secured only two bronze medals during the first two days of the competition.

Park Ha-jun, who led the team to a bronze medal by showing strong resilience in the final stages of the men's team preliminary round the previous day, wrote another dramatic script at the last moment.

After finishing the first single shot in the bronze-deciding bracket, South Korea trailed slightly behind Japan with 399.0 points compared to Japan's 398.8 points, but the standings shifted in subsequent turns.

While Ban Hyo-jin shot 10.0 and Park Ha-jun scored 9.9, Japan combined for 20.9 points, pushing them up to second place with 419.7 points, 0.8 points ahead of South Korea.

However, the outcome was decided on the very last shot.

Ban Hyo-jin scored 10.3 points, and Park Ha-jun hit a 10.9 on his 21st shot.

Japan's Misaki Novata and Naoki Hanakawa shot 10.5 and 9.5 respectively, leaving them 0.4 points behind South Korea (440.1 points) as they settled for the bronze medal.

Park laughed as he recalled, "I thought we were going to end up in third place. I took the last shot with the mindset to just do my best, and it landed squarely in the 10.9 ring. After hitting the 10.9, I thought I should brag to Hyo-jin and gloat a bit. As soon as we came out, I told her, 'We won this silver medal thanks to oppa.'"

Ban also shared her thoughts, saying, "When I was struggling, oppa shot well, and when oppa fell slightly behind, I worked hard to shoot well, so we complemented each other. It was a day with great timing. I am glad we won a lucky silver medal because oppa hit 10.9."

Before the final shot, Ban showed great presence of mind by directly calling a time-out.

Having endured pain even during the individual event two days prior, she bought time to steady her posture, which had been shaken by cramps in her left foot, while Park also took a moment to regulate his breathing.

The duo is highly likely to compete together in the mixed event at the ISSF World Championships to be held in Doha, Qatar, this coming November.

Park expressed his determination, saying, "It's a pity we missed the gold, but we will definitely try to beat China next time. We are likely to team up again for the mixed event at the November World Championships, and we will genuinely aim for the gold medal then."

Ban added, "I will trust oppa and rely on each other to work even harder next time. Today, I'm going to eat delicious yakiniku. I'll make oppa buy me the expensive kind."

(Photo: Yonhap News)

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