Chu Ka-eun wins South Korea's first shooting gold at Asian Games on debut

Chu Ka-eun set a new Asian record Wednesday to claim South Korea's first shooting gold medal at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Competing in the women's 10-meter air pistol individual final at the Aichi Prefectural General Shooting Range in Japan, Chu scored 246.3 points to beat China's Shen Yao (241.3 points) by five points. It was the first time a South Korean athlete had won the individual event since Kim Yun-mi at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games — a gap of 16 years.

Chu made her Asian Games debut with a string of record-breaking performances. She topped the qualification round with 582 points (19 inner tens), setting an Asian Games record, to advance to the final in first place. In the final, she surpassed the previous Asian record of 245.3 points — set by Japan's Konishi Yukari in 2017 — by one point, and matched the South Korean national record set by Kim Min-jeong in 2019.

Chu was dominant throughout the final. She led from the opening 10 shots and had secured a medal by the 20th shot with a score of 205.4. After 22 shots she held a 4.1-point lead over Shen at 225.9, and she added 20.4 points on the final two shots to seal the gold comfortably.

Chu was first named to the national team in 2017 and competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but missed the cut for the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games. She built momentum this year with a bronze medal at the ISSF World Cup in Munich and a fourth-place finish at the Hangzhou World Cup before claiming gold at her first Asian Games.

Chu had earlier teamed up with Oh Ye-jin of the Industrial Bank of Korea and Kim Bo-mi of the Busan city team to win a silver medal in the women's 10-meter air pistol team event, giving her a gold and a silver at this year's Games. She will compete in the mixed team event Friday, where she will go for a second gold.