Im Dong Hyun named to Korean squad for 16th year in a row

Header picture courtesy Korea Archery Association.

Reigning World Archery Champion Im Dong Hyun has made the eight-man Korean squad for the 16th consecutive year in 2018 after a week of trials under testing snowy conditions in Yecheon, Korea.

Noticeably missing from the squad list are recent Olympic Champions Ku Bonchan and Ki Bo Bae, both of whom failed to make the cut.

World number one Kim Woojin won all but one of the selection phases to dominate the men’s ranking. Kim and Im are joined in the squad by Shin Jae Hoon, Lee Woo Seok, Bae Jae Hyun, Kim Gyu Chan, Jung Tae Young and Oh Jin Hyek.

Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic bronze medallist Lee Eun Gyeong led the women’s selections, just ahead of Rio 2016 Olympic Champion Chang Hye Jin.

Choi Minsun, Kang Chae Young, Jung Dasomi, Park Mi Kyung, Choi Misun and An San round out an experience-diverse women’s roster.

The last time Ki Bo Bae did not make the Korean squad was also the last year in which the Asian Games were held, in 2014, when she instead attended the large multisporting event as an analyst for Korean television.

Korea retains eight male and eight female athletes on its recurve squad each year, with further trials to select the two sets of four archers to compete internationally as the primary team. 

The nation’s compound squad is smaller, consisting of only eight athletes in total, and will be named on 4 April.

The Korean line-up for the first stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai is expected to be announced on 16 April.

The Korea Archery Association is the national federation for archery in Korea.