Chu Ga-eun (25, Imsil County Office) has claimed a gold medal in her very first Asian Games appearance, securing South Korea's first gold in shooting at the ongoing competition.

On September 23, Chu triumphed in the final of the women’s 10m air pistol individual event at the Aichi Prefectural Shooting Range in Japan, scoring 246.3 points to finish first among eight finalists.

The silver medal went to Shen Yaoyao (241.3 points) and the bronze to Zhang Lanxin (221.6 points), both representing China.

Earlier in the day, Chu set new records in both the preliminary and final rounds. She advanced to the final in first place by scoring 582 points (with 19 inner tens) in the qualification round, setting a new Asian Games preliminary record.

In the final, she scored 246.3 points, beating the previous Asian record of 245.3 points set by Yukari Konishi (Japan) in 2017 by 1.0 point to claim the top spot on the podium.

This marks the first time in 16 years that a South Korean shooter has won gold in the women's 10m air pistol individual event at the Asian Games, following Kim Yun-mi's victory at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.

Previously, Chu partnered with Oh Ye-jin (IBK Altos) and Kim Bo-mi (Busan City Hall) to win a silver medal in the team event. Having successfully captured an individual gold and a team silver in her debut Asian Games, Chu will compete in the mixed team event on September 25 in pursuit of another gold medal.

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