Hits 10.5 in bronze-medal decider: 'I did it — I finally got something'

First senior national team call-up, first Asian Games podium: 'Showing young shooters can compete'

Kim Ji-eun of South Korea beams after winning the bronze medal in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions individual final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at the Aichi Prefecture General Shooting Range in Japan on Saturday. [Yonhap]
Kim Ji-eun of South Korea beams after winning the bronze medal in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions individual final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at the Aichi Prefecture General Shooting Range in Japan on Saturday. [Yonhap]

Kim Ji-eun's shooting career began with a game of rock-paper-scissors — and on Saturday, it delivered South Korea's first Asian Games medal in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions event in 12 years.

Had she lost that childhood game, Kim might never have picked up a rifle. The weapon she grabbed by chance led, a decade later, to a bronze medal at her first Asian Games.

Kim, 23, of the Industrial Bank of Korea, finished third with a score of 348.4 in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions final at the Aichi Prefecture General Shooting Range in Japan on Saturday at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

After the competition, Kim spoke to Yonhap and recalled how it all started.

"When I was in middle school, only two students in my class could join the shooting club during the free-semester program," she said. "A lot of the boys wanted in, but I won rock-paper-scissors and took one of the two spots."

"I already loved sports, so I took to shooting naturally," she added. "I started training seriously from my second year of middle school."

Kim won a team gold at the 2023 Summer Universiade and earned her first call-up to the senior national team this year, quickly securing a spot at the Asian Games.

But the road to her first Asian Games was far from smooth. She struggled to find her footing in the prone position, which had been her strongest.

"I was under a lot of stress and losing weight, and my anxiety about the prone position kept growing," she said. "Even when I was training here in Japan, I was not in good shape — but I told myself that even if I shot badly, I would finish without regrets."

Even in the qualification round, a place in the final was not guaranteed until the very last moment. Kim shot 10 points on each of her final five shots to post 588 points with 28 inner tens, advancing in seventh place overall.

In the final, where shooters are eliminated one shot at a time, Kim found herself on the edge heading into the shot that would decide the bronze medal.

She had climbed as high as second after hitting 10.5, but a 9.5 on the preceding shot dropped her back to fourth with a cumulative score of 327.6 — just 0.3 points behind third-place Tilottama Sen of India at 327.9.

If she could not surpass Sen on the next shot, she would finish fourth.

Kim hit 10.5, while Sen managed only 9.4, securing the bronze. Kim shot 10.3 on the final shot but finished third, falling 0.1 points short of Han Ziwei of China in second.

"After I locked up the bronze, I thought, 'I did it — I finally got something,'" Kim said. "But I was still a little disappointed to miss second place by just 0.1 points."

The medal is South Korea's first in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions individual event at the Asian Games since Jung Mi-ra won silver at the 2014 Incheon Games.

Hearing that fact for the first time during the interview, Kim said she was stunned. "A generational shift is happening little by little, and I feel proud that I could show people there are shooters like me out there — that young shooters can compete."

Earlier, Jeong Seung-woo, who also competed in his first Asian Games in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions event, won a team bronze and reached the individual final, where he placed seventh.

With Kim now on the podium as well, expectations are growing that a new golden generation is emerging in South Korean rifle 3 positions shooting.

"If I get the chance to compete at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, I will work to become a shooter who can aim for bronze — and beyond," Kim said.


mokiya@heraldcorp.com