(Asian Games) S. Korea wins three more shooting gold medals

By Yoo Jee-ho
GUANGZHOU, China, Nov. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korean male shooter Kim Hak-man took the 50-meter rifle prone gold medal at the Asian Games here Monday, adding to the team gold medal in the same event he'd helped win earlier in the day. The women's team also won the 50m rifle prone gold medal.

   The victories raised South Korea's shooting gold medal tally to eight. This is the third day of the shooting competition.

   Kim shot 595 in the qualification round, one behind teammate Kim Jong-hyun, but Kim Hak-man shot a final round score of 103.3 for the 698.3 total.

  

South Korean shooter Kim Hak-man celebrates on Nov. 15 after winning men's 50-meter rifle prone gold medal at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. (Yonhap)

Yuriv Melsitov of Kazakhstan won silver with a score of 697.9. Tian Hui of China was the bronze medalist finishing 0.5 points behind Melsitov.

   Kim Jong-hyun and Han Jin-seop had also qualified for the final for South Korea as the No. 1 and No. 3 qualifiers. But Kim slid to seventh and Han ranked fourth.

   Earlier, the trio took the team 50-meter rifle prone title. They put together 1,785 points, an Asian record, while China had 1,774 points for silver and Kazakhstan won bronze at 1,771 points.

   The team competition combines the scores of three shooters in their individual qualification rounds. Kim Jong-hyun paced South Korea with 596 points.

   On the women's side, Kim Jung-mi, Lee Yun-chae and Kwon Na-ra together shot 1,775 points for the title, edging Thailand (1,763) and China (1,760). Individually, Kim was the top shooter among the three at 592 points. She tied Japan's Seiko Iwata for the third spot after Iwata shot a perfect on the sixth and final shot to Kim's 98.

   The women's 50m rifle prone is not an Olympic event and thus didn't have an individual final, where top eight qualifiers each take 10 shots. Instead, 50 shooters took six shots each to determine medalists, and the team medal was decided on combined scores of three shooters from each country.

   jeeho@yna.co.kr