South Korea's Rapid-Fire Pistol Team Fires a Golden Shot After 12 Years... Song Jong-ho's 'Misfortune'—Unable to Reach the Final Despite Finishing Fourth [Nagoya Asian Games]

[Financial News]  South Korea's shooting team once again pierced the heart of Asia with pinpoint accuracy. After completely breaching the seemingly impregnable Great Wall, it reached the top step of the podium in the 25m rapid-fire pistol team event for the first time in 12 years.
South Korea's men's rapid-fire pistol team, comprising Song Jong-ho (Industrial Bank of Korea), Lee Geon-hyeok (Daegu Public Facilities Corporation) and Yoon Seo-young (KB Kookmin Bank), scored a combined 1,749 points to win gold in the 25m rapid-fire pistol team event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on the 1st. The event was held at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Range in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. South Korea comfortably defeated runner-up China by nine points, with China scoring 1,740. Indonesia placed third with 1,720 points.
With this victory, South Korean shooting reclaimed its dominance in the event at the Asian Games, 12 years after the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, where Kim Jun-hong, Jang Dae-gyu and Song Jong-ho competed. Song Jong-ho, who was the youngest member of the team that won gold at the time, made history by claiming another Asian Games gold medal 12 years later. After a day without a gold medal, the South Korean delegation regained momentum thanks to this valuable golden shot, raising its gold-medal total at the Games to 25.
In shooting team events, rankings are determined by adding the preliminary scores of the three participating athletes. In the rapid-fire pistol preliminaries, athletes fire five shots in each of four series under the 8-, 6- and 4-second time limits, for 20 shots at each time limit. Each athlete fires a total of 60 shots over two days.



South Korea took control on the opening day of the preliminaries, combining for 873 points to lead China by three points. It remained dominant on Day 2, which was conducted in reverse order of the standings. Song Jong-ho, the oldest member of Group 5, widened the gap with 292 points out of a possible 300. Yoon Seo-young, who had ranked second overall the previous day, wavered somewhat with 288 points, but ace Lee Geon-hyeok fired an outstanding 296 to finally quench South Korea's 12-year thirst for gold.
Yet the podium finish was accompanied by considerable disappointment. In the combined preliminary standings, Lee Geon-hyeok scored 588 points and Yoon Seo-young 581, placing second and third overall, respectively. Both advanced to the eight-athlete final, where they will pursue a second gold medal.
By contrast, Song Jong-ho finished fourth overall with 580 points but was denied a place in the final by the Asian Games' harsh 'two-athletes-per-country limit.' He had to give up the final spot to ninth-place finisher Anish of India. It was a bitter ending for the veteran, who earned a top-four finish in Asia on merit but had to turn away because of the rule.


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