2024-07-27 14:39:17
[PARiS 2024]
Yeo Gap-soon and Kang Cho-hyun are the ‘high school girl marksmen’
Today’s 10m air rifle mixed event
Special ‘mental’ strengths in natural genius
There is a lineage of female high school rifle marksmen in Korean women’s shooting. Yeo Gap-soon won a gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics when she was a senior in high school. Kang Cho-hyun also won a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics when she was a senior in high school.
Among the 143 Korean athletes competing in the Paris Olympics, Ban Hyo-jin, the youngest, is considered to be the successor to Yeo Gap-soon and Kang Cho-hyun. Ban Hyo-jin, 17, is a second-year student at Daegu Sports High School.
Ban Hyo-jin is the first candidate to win a medal for the Korean team at the Paris Olympics. Ban Hyo-jin will compete in the 10m air rifle mixed event at the Chateauroux Shooting Center in France at 4 p.m. on the 27th, paired with her older brother Choi Dae-han. The bronze medal match will be held at 5:30 p.m. on the same day, followed by the gold medal match.
Ban Hyo-jin earned the Taegeuk mark after only three years of shooting. In 2021, when she was in her second year of middle school, she first picked up a gun, following a friend from the same school’s shooting club. Before that, she had never shot a gun, not even in an amusement park or arcade. Then, a little over a month later, she won first place in the Daegu Mayor’s Cup. Ban Hyo-jin is said to have a natural talent for shooting, and as a player who is used to competition, she is also mentally very strong. Given the nature of shooting, which requires an empty mind, her innocent personality is said to be a great help in the game.
The Paris Olympics national team selection is a representative example. At a moment when even one twist of the foot could lead to elimination, Ban Hyo-jin said, “I want to finish quickly and eat Yukhoe Bibimbap.” In the final national team selection, Ban Hyo-jin beat her seniors with a high score of 632.2 points and took first place. Regarding the life at the Jincheon Athletes’ Village, which many athletes find difficult, he said, “The food at the cafeteria was so delicious. I really like the Athletes’ Village because there is so much to eat.”
Due to this natural talent and personality, there are expectations that Ban Hyo-jin may cause a ‘big accident’ at this Olympics. Ban Hyo-jin came in second in the 10m air rifle event at the International Shooting Federation (ISSF) World Cup in June. She was 0.1 points behind first place. Ban Hyo-jin will also compete in the mixed event and 10m air rifle at the Paris Olympics. She said, “When I compete, I am humble, but I also think, ‘Other athletes are no different.’ I really want to seize the opportunity to win my first Olympic medal.”
The Korean shooting team will aim for a medal in the mixed event with the pair of Ban Hyo-jin and Choi Dae-han, as well as the pair of Park Ha-jun and Geum Ji-hyun. It was originally expected that Ban Hyo-jin and Park Ha-jun, who each won first place in the men’s and women’s national team trials, would form a pair. However, after arriving in Paris and undergoing local adaptation training, the coaching staff decided that it would be better to change the team composition.
Paris = Reporter Lee Heon-jae [email protected]
-
- great
- 0dog
-
- I’m so sad
- 0dog
-
- I’m angry
- 0dog
-
- I recommend it
- dog
Hot news right now
2024-07-27 14:39:17