Shattered a nine-year-old Asian record! Ju-eun Ahn delivers Korea's first shooting gold medal... steady as 'ten-ten-ten!' Truly the 'pride of Imsil' [Aichi Nagoya AG]

*This content was translated by AI.

Ju-eun Ahn (25, Imsil County Office) set a new Asian record in the women's 10m air pistol event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, securing Korea's first gold medal of the tournament in shooting.

On the 23rd, Ahn scored 246.3 points in the individual final of the women's 10m air pistol held at the Aichi Prefecture General Shooting Range in Japan, defeating China's Xian Yiyao (241.3 points) to claim victory.

The score of 246.3 points broke the previous Asian record of 245.3 points set by Japan's Yukari Konishi in 2017, surpassing it by one point. Earlier in the preliminary round, Ahn also set a new tournament record with 582 points to advance to the final as the top qualifier.

Ahn maintained overwhelming performance throughout the final. In the first series of five shots each, she took the lead with 51.8 points and added 49.8 points in the second series for a total of 101.6 points, edging out Taiwan's Qingyan Chen by just 0.3 points.

Even as the competition moved to the survival single-shot elimination rounds, Ahn showed no signs of wavering. While rival Xian Yiyao made errors, Ahn consistently hit targets in the 10th-point zone, widening the gap. With only three shooters remaining, she had already secured a comfortable lead over Xian by 3.3 points, effectively clinching the gold medal early.

With this victory, Korean shooting added its first gold medal of the tournament, following one silver and two bronze medals won in air rifle events the previous day. This gold also marks Korea's seventh overall gold medal at the Games.

Earlier that morning, Ahn had also contributed to a bronze medal in the women's 10m air pistol team event, becoming a multi-medalist on her first-ever Asian Games stage.

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*This content was translated by AI.