South Korean shooting has reignited its gold medal race at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

The South Korean men's rapid fire pistol team, consisting of Song Jong-ho (IBK Corporate Bank), Lee Geon-hyuk (Daegu Public Facilities Management Corporation), and Yoon Seo-young (KB Kookmin Bank), claimed the title by combining for 1,749 points in the 25-meter rapid fire pistol team event held at the Aichi Prefectural Shooting Range in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on October 1, defeating second-place China (1,740 points).

Third place went to Indonesia with 1,720 points.

This marks the first time South Korean shooting has won this event at the Asian Games in 12 years, since the 2014 Incheon Games.

At the 2014 Incheon Games, South Korea swept both the individual (Kim Jun-hong) and team (Kim Jun-hong, Jang Dae-gyu, Song Jong-ho) rapid fire pistol events.

Song Jong-ho has put on an Asian Games gold medal again after 12 years.

The South Korean delegation, which failed to add a gold medal the previous day, saw its total gold medal count increase to 25 thanks to this second gold medal from shooting at the current Games.

Team events in shooting determine rankings by summing up the preliminary scores of the participating athletes.

Having started the day in first place with a combined score of 873 points in the first day of the rapid fire pistol preliminaries, finishing 3 points ahead of China (870 points), South Korea continued its accurate shooting on the second day, October 1.

The rapid fire pistol preliminaries are held over two days, with each athlete shooting a total of 60 rounds: four series of 5 shots in 8 seconds (20 shots), four series of 5 shots in 6 seconds (20 shots), and four series of 5 shots in 4 seconds (20 shots).

Unlike rifle or pistol events, scores are recorded in whole numbers such as 10 and 9 without decimals.

In the day's matches held in the reverse order of the first day's preliminary scores, Song Jong-ho, belonging to group 5, shot 292 points out of a possible 300, widening the gap with China.

Although Yoon Seo-young, who placed second overall with 293 points the previous day, wavered slightly with 288 points, Lee Geon-hyuk hit a high score of 296 points, contributing to the team gold medal.

Based on the preliminary results, Lee Geon-hyuk (588 points, 2nd place) and Yoon Seo-young (581 points, 3rd place) will compete for a second gold medal in the finals later in the day, which feature the top 8 athletes.

Song Jong-ho placed 4th with 580 points, but due to the rule allowing only two athletes per country in the finals, he handed over his spot in the finals to Anish (India), who ranked 9th.

The finals are conducted in a format where athletes shoot 5 shots in 4 seconds, scoring 1 point for 9.7 points or higher, and 0 points for anything below.

(Photo: Yonhap News)