Korea to defend mixed team World Champion titles

Both Korea’s mixed teams will contest the gold medal matches at the Mexico City 2017 World Archery Championships, defending titles the pairs won two years ago in Copenhagen, Denmark.

“We were able to get past the first round fairly easily but it was more challenging for us in the quarters and semis,” said Kang Chae Young, who paired with Im Dong Hyun in the recurve event.

“I was actually quite a bit nervous and our opponents were very strong as well. I just tried my best until the end and it's just incredibly fortunate that we were able to make it to the gold medal match.”

Korea beat Colombia in the first round in clean sets, 6-0; Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das of India in a quarterfinal shoot-off, and then Furukawa Takaharu and Sugimoto Tomomi in a semifinal shoot-off.

Kang shot the X10 that secured Korea the last win. Supported by Olympic team medallist Im, she said she felt comfortable to make the shot.

“[I told her] just shoot with confidence, don't get discouraged and trust in what you're doing,” said Im. “I said a lot of the things she appreciates hearing during practice and since we had our coach behind us, we just kept saying to shoot with confidence.”

“For the past few months, I've been working hard at preparing myself so I think that has given me good results. During the time that I wasn't on the national team, I worked hard on my own and had a lot of time to think about things,” said Im, who was out of the Korean first team from 2014 to 2016.

“It's been my positive thinking and persistent training that has brought me good results.”

Kim Jongho and Song Yun Soo, seeded second in the compound event, beat Colombia, South Africa and the Netherlands to make the finals.

Kim, who was the man who paired with Kim Yunhee to win gold in Copenhagen, said: “Since we were able to win two years ago, I had high expectations this time around. I’m just really happy that we were able to make the finals again.”

“[On the final] I’m going to do my best and hopefully show what I can do. I’m going to show that I’m a strong archer,” he added.

The 2017 Hyundai World Archery Championships run 15-22 October in Mexico City, Mexico.