Korea dominates recurve team finals in Shanghai

Korea’s recurve women’s team of Chang Hye Jin, Kang Chae Young and Lee Eun Gyeong and men – Oh Jin Hyek, Kim Woojin and Lee Woo Seok - collected gold medals at the opening stage of the 2018 Hyundai Archery World Cup tour in Shanghai, China with victories over Chinese Taipei and Japan, respectively.

The Korean women’s squad, lined up opposite Tan Ya-Ting, Lei Chien-Ying and Peng Chia-Mao quickly found themselves 4-0 down after a slow start.

Shooting four straight 10s to open the third set, eventually scoring 58 points to Chinese Taipei’s 55, Korea took the third set emphatically – and then the fourth, too, to tie the match and send it to a deciding shoot-off.

“In our national selection [tournaments], we also have shoot-offs preparations so we get to experience similar situations as the one we had [in Shanghai],” said Kang.

Korea shot 10-9-8 for 27 total. Chinese Taipei had 28, and needed a 10 to win the match – but shot a third nine, leaving Korea’s 10 as the closest arrow to the middle to win the match.

Oh, Kim and Lee entered the finals arena one hour after the ladies collected gold to face Japan’s Kuraya Tomoaki, Muto Hiroki, Furukawa Takaharu.

The Korean team won, 6-2, wiping clean a tarnished slate from Shanghai in 2017, when the squad was usurped by an unranked Kazakhstan squad for gold. In that match, Oh couldn’t deliver the final winning arrow when given the opportunity. This time, he did.

“My expectations weren’t high but I trusted my experienced teammates and relied on them to take the match and win the gold,” said Lee, the youngest and newest member of the top team from Korea.

Averaging 56.5 points per set, one more than Japan, Oh, Kim and Lee lost the first set and then took the following three. Only three of their arrows landed out of the yellow-ring.

“It didn’t matter that we lost the first set. We focused on the match and on our performance. That’s why we won,” said Woojin.

The first stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place in Shanghai, China on 23-29 April.