Antalya finals preview: Recurve Sunday

Korea has five of its six recurve archers and all three teams in the finals on Sunday in sunny Antalya – when the heat on the beach is tipped to top the low 40s in degrees Celsius. Our picks…

Recurve women’s gold final (PM): CHOI MISUN  / KSENIA PEROVA 

While 2015 Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion Choi Misun led the women’s ranking round in Antalya, Ksenia was third seeded.

Choi collected three golds in Medellin, set a new team world record over the Antalya ranking round with the Korean women’s team and beat teammate Chang to make the finals 7-1 – and secured a place at the finals in Odense to defend her circuit crown. But by making the finals in Antalya, Perova is qualified as well.

This could be Choi’s second individual gold of the season or Perova’s first.

Advantage: Choi

Recurve men’s gold final (PM): KU BONCHAN  / LEE SEUNGYUN 

World number eight and nine in the world Lee Seungyun and Ku Bonchan ranked third and first, respectively, over the recurve men’s ranking round in Antalya.

Last time they clashed was at the 2015 Summer Universiade gold medal match in Gwangju, Korea, where Lee won in straight sets. Lee also won in Antalya in 2015, and he needs to win in 2016 if he wants to qualify for this year’s Archery World Cup Final in Odense, for which Ku is already a lock.

It could go either way, but it might be Ku’s time this year.

Advantage: Ku

Recurve women’s bronze final (PM): CHANG HYE JIN  / TAN YA TING 

Chinese Taipei’s Tan Ya Ting collected silver in Shanghai and bronze in Medellin, which secured her spot at the 2016 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final. Seeded seventh in Antalya, she beat Olympic Champion Ki Bo Bae to get into the semis. She was also part of the women’s team that secured Chinese Taipei a full quota team for Rio 2016 Olympic Games during the week in Turkey.

Tan’s shooting against Korea’s women’s team captain Chang Hye Jin, who seeded fourth and lost to teammate Choi Misun in the semis.

Chang might be part of the women’s team that broke the team world record in Antalya, but Tan seems to be just rolling.

Advantage: Tan

Recurve men’s bronze final (PM): ATANu Das  / KIM WOOJIN 

Although World Champion Kim Woojin collected gold with the men’s team and the mixed team in Medellin, individually, he hasn’t been on the podium this season. He beat Brady Ellison in the quarters but then got beaten in the semis by teammate Lee Seungyun, 7-3.

Shooting against fourth-seed Atanu Das, Woojin doesn’t want leave to chance his qualification for the 2016 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final, although he might need to wait for the results between his teammates in the gold match to come in.

Advantage: Kim

Recurve mixed team gold final (PM): Korea  / India 

The pair of Choi Misun and Ku Bonchan were the individual top seeds. Together, the Korean duo first upset Spain 6-2 and then beat the USA in a shoot off, to make the semis against Chinese Taipei, who they beat 5-3.

India, with Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari, qualified sixth. They first dispatched Turkey and then beat Russia in a shoot-off as well. In the semis against Italy, they won 5-1.

India won bronze at the first stage of this year Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai against Korea in a shoot-off, although it was a different Korean team – as the dominant archery nation was represented by its junior team. Against Bonchan and and Misun, the story could be completely different…

Advantage: Korea

Recurve women’s team gold final (AM): Korea  / Russia 

The Korean women’s team of Ki Bo Bae, Choi Misun and Chang Hye Jin shot a new world record in the team ranking round with 2045 points – seven more than the previous one, and 53 more than Korea’s gold medal match opponent, Russia, seeded second.

Advantage: Korea

Recurve men’s team gold final: Korea  / Mexico 

The Korean and Mexican men’s team met in London 2012 for the bronze medal match. Back then, Korea won. In 2016 this two teams first met in Medellin – where Korea also won – and now, once again, in sunny (and hot) Antalya.

Korea qualified first with a total of 2050 points, Mexico sixth with 2003 points. The average per set for Korea is 56.5 points, for Mexico: 55.2. It could be a close one, but the statistics point in one direction: Korea’s.

Advantage: Korea