Korean team falls to India in mixed 10m air pistol, missing cut for bronze

Korea’s Oh Ye-jin and Lee Won-ho fell short of a medal in the 10-meter air pistol mixed team contest at the Paris Olympics Tuesday, losing 16-10 to India’s Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh in the bronze-medal match.

Korea's Oh Ye-Jin prepares to compete in the 10-meter air pistol mixed team bronze medal event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, on Tuesday in Chateauroux, France. [AP/YONHAP]

Korea’s Oh Ye-jin and Lee Won-ho fell short of a medal in the 10-meter air pistol mixed team contest at the Paris Olympics Tuesday, losing 16-10 to India’s Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh in the bronze-medal match.

Korea started off strong, winning the first shot with a combined 20.5 points to India’s 18.8. But they fell behind in the next three rounds as India pushed ahead with scores of 21.2, 20.8 and 20.7 to Korea’s 19.9, 19.8 and 20.5 to put the board at 6-2. Each team can win a maximum of two points per shot.

Korea's Lee Won-ho, left, and Oh Ye-jin are in action during the mixed team 10-meter air pistol bronze-medal match at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday in Chateauroux, France. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Korea picked up a few more rounds, outshooting India with shots No. 6, 8, 11 and 12 but failed to retake the lead at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Chateauroux, France.

It would have been 19-year-old Oh’s second medal at the Games. She won gold in the women’s 10-meter air pistol competition Sunday, edging out fellow Korean shooter Kim Ye-ji for the top spot. Bhaker took third.

And 24-year-old Lee, who finished fourth in the men’s 10-meter air pistol competition earlier Sunday to narrowly miss out on the podium, will end his first Games without a medal.

Oh and Lee snatched the final spot in a medal round after placing fourth in the qualifiers Monday. They combined for a score of 579-18x to edge out China’s Li Xue and Zhang Bowen, with 578-19x, for a place in Tuesday’s face-off for bronze.

Korea's Oh Ye-jin, left, and Lee Won-ho react during the 10-meter air pistol mixed team qualification round at the Paris Olympics in Chateauroux, France on Monday. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

It was the second mixed team shooting event to be contested in Paris and marks Korea’s fifth medal in the sport at this year’s Games.

Korea’s Park Ha-jun and Keum Ji-hyeon kicked off the haul with a silver medal in the 10-meter air rifle mixed team competition Saturday.

Sixteen-year-old Ban Hyo-jin on Monday won the 10-meter air rifle women’s final, beating China’s Huang Yuting in a shoot-off to notch her first medal at the Olympics and Korea’s third gold medal of the 2024 Games.

Turkey and Serbia were set to face off in the 10-meter air pistol mixed team gold-medal match immediately after the contest between Korea and India as of press time.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]