From Watching Through a Door Crack to Winning Gold on the International Stage

Years ago, she could only watch shooting practice through a crack in a door. Now, at 19, Hangzhou shooterWang Zifeihas stepped onto the Asian Games stage and helped China win a gold medal while setting a new Asian record.

Wang was part of the Chinese team that won the women’s 10-meter air rifle team event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on September 20. Alongside Han Jiayu and Du Yuchen, she helped China score1904.2 points, breaking the previous world record of 1902.0.

For Wang, however, the significance of the victory goes far beyond the numbers.

A Girl Who Watched Through the Door

Wang’s connection with shooting began in 2015, when she was still in second grade at Fuchun No. 3 Primary School in Hangzhou.

Her class was responsible for cleaning a corridor outside the school’s shooting range. While other students finished their chores and left, Wang would often stay behind, peering through the door to watch the shooting team train.

She became fascinated by the athletes raising their rifles, aiming and firing.

At the time, the school shooting team generally accepted students from third grade onward because younger children were not yet strong enough to handle the equipment.

But Wang kept asking her coach, Ye Kailun, whether she could join.

“She was too young at the time, and she was not even as tall as the rifle,” Ye recalled. Yet Wang kept coming back.

Her persistence eventually convinced the coach to give her a chance.

The Decision That Changed Her Life

Before Wang officially entered the team, Ye tested her physical balance and ability to hold a shooting position.

She was still small and inexperienced, but her determination stood out.

“Her eyes had that spark,” Ye said, explaining why he decided to take a chance on the young girl.

The gamble quickly began to pay off.

Wang progressed rapidly in stability, strength and live-fire training. Within months, she had begun catching up with athletes who had trained much longer.

In 2017, she was selected for the Hangzhou shooting team. Four years later, she entered the Zhejiang provincial team.

What began as curiosity in a school corridor had gradually become a professional sporting career.

From Local Training to the World Stage

Wang’s breakthrough came well before the Asian Games.

Since April 2025, she had won three consecutive World Cup titles in the women’s 10-meter air rifle at the Argentina, Peru and Germany stops. During that period, she also broke world and junior world records.

Her performance in Nagoya provided another milestone.

In the Asian Games qualification round, Wang shot636.8, finishing first and setting a new Asian record for the event. It was also the first Asian record set by a Chinese athlete at these Asian Games.

Her teammates were equally impressive. Han Jiayu recorded 633.8, while Du Yuchen shot 633.6.

Their combined score produced China's world-record total of 1904.2.

India finished second with 1898.0, while Japan took bronze with 1897.1.

The Gold Medal Is Only the Beginning

Wang’s first Asian Games has already delivered a remarkable collection of milestones: her first appearance, her first Asian Games gold medal and an Asian record.

Yet the story that has attracted the most attention is the journey behind those achievements.

A young girl who once stood outside a shooting range and watched through a door crack eventually entered that same sport, rose through local and provincial teams, won international competitions and finally stood on an Asian Games podium.

Her coach Ye Kailun described her with eight Chinese characters that can be roughly translated asknowing when to push and when to stay composed.

That composure was evident in Nagoya.

The team gold was secured by the combined qualification scores, while Wang and Han also advanced to the individual final. Wang ultimately finished fifth and Han seventh, while Japan’s Tachi Yoshi won the individual title.

For Wang, the team victory remains the defining moment.

From a school corridor to an international arena, her path shows how a seemingly small moment of curiosity can become the starting point of a much larger sporting journey.

The girl who once had to look through a door to see the shooting world has now stepped fully into it — and she has done so as an Asian Games champion.