Park Ha-jun takes silver in men’s 10 meter air rifle

Park Ha-jun, 23, takes silver in the men's individual 10 meter air rifle competition at the 19th Asian Games on Monday. [NEWS 1]

Korean shooter Park Ha-jun, 23, took silver in the individual men’s 10 meter air rifle contest at the 19th Asian Games on Monday.

He scored 251.3 points, coming a hair behind China’s Sheng Lihao, who scored 253.3 points, but well ahead of India’s Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, with a score of 228.8.

A total of eight athletes qualified for a shot at the podium. Park ranked second among the gold medal contenders ahead of the round.

Park’s second place finish followed his team’s from earlier Monday. The three-person team of Park, Nam Tae-yun and Kim Sang-do took silver in the men’s team 10 meter air rifle, beating China but losing to India.

Park’s father is Park Byung-taek, who won a total of five gold medals for Korea in shooting at the Asian Games between 1990 and 2010, according to the Games official website. Park's older sister, Park Chae-yoon, has also competed in shooting and encouraged him to take up the sport, the website said.

It’s the younger Park’s first time competing in the Asian Games. He will have one more shot at a medal in the 10 meter air rifle mixed team competition, which is set to begin with a qualification round on Tuesday.

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