Paris Paralympics, Intense Ranking Battle... 5 Medals Won in Shooting and Table Tennis

First Medal by Shooter Lee Yun-ri, First Gold Medal Winner Shooter Jo Jeong-du
Table Tennis Seo Su-yeon and Yoon Ji-yoo Lose to Chinese Team... Win Silver Medal

The South Korean disabled athletes have begun their full-scale medal hunt at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Disabled female shooting star Lee Yun-ri is smiling brightly while showing her training diary and silver medal after winning the silver medal in the R2 Women's 10m Air Rifle Standing event (sports classification SH1) at the 2024 Paris Paralympics held at the Ch?teauroux Shooting Center in France on the 30th (Korean time).
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the second day of the medal race, the 30th (local time), South Korea won one gold, one silver, and one bronze medal in shooting, and one silver and one bronze medal in table tennis. With a total of five medals, South Korea ranked 16th overall.

The first medal for the Korean team came from shooting. Lee Yoon-ri (49, Wando County Office), a leading female disabled shooter, scored 246.8 points in the final of the R2 Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing (sport class SH1) held at the Ch?teauroux Shooting Center in France, earning a silver medal. Lee Yoon-ri was leading by 0.8 points over Avani Lekhara (India) before the last shot and seemed poised to win the gold medal, but she scored 6.8 out of a perfect 10.9 on the final shot, finishing second.

Following her, shooting pistol ace Jo Jeong-du (37, BDH Paras) became the first gold medalist for the Korean team. Jo Jeong-du recorded 237.4 points in the final of the P1 Men’s 10m Air Pistol (sport class SH1) held at the same venue, defeating Manish Narwal (India, 234.9 points) by a large margin to win the gold. Former special forces sharpshooter Seo Hoon-tae (39, Kolon) won the bronze medal with a total score of 231.7 points in the R4 Mixed 10m Air Rifle Standing (sport class SH2) final, finishing behind Slovenia’s Gorazd Tirsek (253.3 points) and France’s Tanguy Forest (253.1 points).

Table tennis players Seo Su-yeon (top right) and Yoon Ji-yoo competed in the women's doubles table tennis final (sports classification WD5) against the Chinese pair Liu Jing and Xue Juan on the 30th (local time) at South Paris Arena 4 in Paris, France.

Medal news also came from table tennis. Seo Soo-yeon (38, Gwangju Metropolitan City Office) and Yoon Ji-yoo (24, Seongnam City Office) won the silver medal after losing 1-3 in sets (7-11, 7-11, 11-8, 9-11) to China’s Liu Jing and Xue Juan duo in the final of the Women’s Doubles (sport class WD5) held at the South Paris Arena 4 in Paris, France. Seo Soo-yeon and Yoon Ji-yoo reached the final by defeating the Brazilian pair Katia Oliveira and Joyce Oliveira in the semifinals but fell short of the last hurdle for the gold medal.

The men’s doubles pair Cha Soo-yong (44, Daegu Metropolitan City Office) and Park Jin-cheol (42, Gwangju Metropolitan City Office) lost 2-3 in sets (12-10, 7-11, 8-11, 11-7, 10-12) to Slovakia’s Peter Lobas and Jan Riapos in the semifinals, securing the bronze medal. Paralympic table tennis does not hold a separate match for third place; both semifinal losers receive bronze medals.

In the same event, Jang Young-jin (31, Seoul Metropolitan City Office) and Park Sung-joo (45, Toyota Korea) defeated the French pair Fabien Ramillo and Julien Michaud 3-1 in sets (11-8, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6) in the semifinals to advance to the final. Both players are making their Paralympic debut and will face the Lobas-Riapos pair in the final on September 1.

Boccia national team member Kang Sun-hee (47, KEPCO KPS) is close to advancing to the quarterfinals with two consecutive wins in the individual sport class BC3 preliminaries. The youngest member of the Korean team, Seo Min-gyu (19, Ansan Disabled Sports Association), lost both the second and third preliminary matches in the men’s individual event (sport class BC2), failing to advance to the quarterfinals.