“If I win a gold medal… I would like to receive recognition and compensatory leave.”

This is what Choi Cho-ah (Commerce), who is competing in the trap event at the Hangzhou Asian Games, told reporters at the national shooting media day held at the Changwon International Shooting Range in Gyeongnam on May 5.

Cho is an active-duty soldier who entered training in January 2019 and was commissioned in May of the same year.

“Even before I started shooting, I liked the job of a soldier, and after shooting, I dreamed of being a soldier,” said Cho, who will be promoted to sergeant at the end of this year. “There was also a commerce team, so I wanted to join.”

She describes her skills as “hardened” since joining the team.

Being in a military unit is a great environment to focus on training.

The support for athletes is also solid.

“In the commercial team, we can use live ammunition as much as the unemployed team,” said Cho, adding, “While the other unemployed team members share a shooting range, the commercial team members use the Mungyeong Shooting Range in Gyeongbuk Province as their own, which seems to improve their shooting records as well as their mindset.”

Although they focus on their athletic endeavors, they don’t miss out on their military duties.

“We don’t do overnight guard duty like other units, but we attend all the on-call duties and monthly trainings, and we also go to trainings held by forward units,” explains Cho.

“As a shotgun athlete, rifles don’t work well with me,” says Choi, who marched at night last winter while wearing a 30-kilogram army pack and regularly trains with a K2 rifle, with an embarrassed laugh.

“I want to continue my military service as a regular soldier after I finish my career,” said Cho, who has fulfilled both her dreams of being a soldier and a shooter.

The shooting trap event involves hitting a flying disk with a shotgun.

“The appeal of trap is the tension that comes from an unpredictable situation where you don’t know if the disk will go left or right,” says Cho.

“In trap, you can’t think too much. Just like the name trap (trap-trap), it seems that trap is a sport where you end up getting caught in the trap of your thoughts,” he said, adding, “Rather, when you are fully immersed and shoot instinctively, your record is better.”

With the Asian Games around three weeks away, Choi said she is excited but also feeling more pressure.

“If we shoot well together, it’s good, but if we make a mistake, we’ll feel very sorry for ourselves,” she said, adding that she was worried that her teammates might miss out on a medal because of her.

“I don’t really prepare for the Asian Games. “I think if you do something extra just because it’s a big competition, you might make it harder on yourself,” she said. “I’m going to treat it like a normal competition and train hard and prepare the same as usual.

“If I win a gold medal at the Asian Games, I would like to receive recognition and a reward vacation,” she smiled.

“Sergeant” Bae Sang-hee is also an active duty soldier who joined the organization 10 years ago.

She joined the organization 10 years ago because of its fully equipped facilities for shooters and the fact that she could learn professionally from high-level managers and coaches.

“After joining the organization, my record improved significantly,” says Bae, “and after about four years of training at the organization, I started to be selected for the national team.”

In the three rifle positions, shooters compete for points by firing 20 rounds each from standing still, kneeling, and boksa, which involves lying face down on the ground.

“The beauty of the three rifle positions is that the score goes up and down depending on the position,” said Bae. “My body rhythm changes slightly depending on the time of year, but right now I’m confident in the standing and shooting positions.”

“I have more international experience than before, so I’m definitely aiming for gold this time around,” said Bae, who finished sixth in the final at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games. 토토