Korea picks up bronze in rifle mixed team event

Lee Eun-seo, right, and Park Ha-jun of Korea pose with their bronze medals from the 10-meter air rifle mixed team event at the Asian Games at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre in Hangzhou, China, Sept. 26. Yonhap

Korea won bronze in the 10-meter air rifle mixed team event at the Asian Games in China on Tuesday, with Park Ha-jun bagging his third shooting medal of the competition.

Park teamed up with Lee Eun-seo to defeat Divyansh Singh Panwar and Ramita Jindal of India 20-18 in a scintillating bronze medal match at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre in Hangzhou.

Park had won two silver medals Monday -- in the men's individual and team 10m air rifle events. He is now the first Korean shooter in Hangzhou to grab three medals.

In the morning qualification stage, Park and Lee finished third to reach one of two bronze medal matches, setting up a match against the sixth-seed Indian team. The fourth- and fifth-ranked teams squared off in the other bronze medal match. The top two teams, from China and Uzbekistan, headed to the gold medal contest.

In the final, shooters each fired single shots on command, with a 50-second limit in place. Two points were awarded to the team with the higher score, and teams each got one point in case of a tie.

Lee Eun-seo, left, and Park Ha-jun of Korea compete in the qualification for the 10-meter air rifle mixed team event at the Asian Games at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre in Hangzhou, China, Sept. 26. Yonhap

The first team to 16 points wins, but the Koreans and the Indians were all knotted at 16-16 before Lee and Park came through on their 19th shots.

The Indian team jumped out to a 6-0 lead, prompting the Korean team to call a timeout with Park, off to a sluggish start, checking his equipment.

India won the next session to go up 8-0, but the Koreans started pushing back, with Lee hitting a perfect 10.9 and Park scoring 10.8 for their first two points.

With Panwar suddenly looking wobbly, Korea mounted a furious comeback and drew even at 9-9.

But then India had the answer and jumped out to a 15-11 lead, just one point away from winning the bronze.

Lee Eun-seo, second from left, and Park Ha-jun, second from right, of Korea compete in the qualification for the 10-meter air rifle mixed team event at the Asian Games at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre in Hangzhou, China, Sept. 26. Yonhap

Lee and Park refused to go away, though. They won the next two series to once again tie their opponents at 15-15.

From there, the two sides put up identical scores over the next three series, each earning a point to go 18-18.

In the deciding series, Lee and Park scored 10.8 and 10.7 points, while Panwar and Ramita each shot a 10.6 to fall short.

Through 2 1/2 days of shooting, Korea has secured six medals. (Yonhap)

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