Kim Woojin becomes first archer to repeat as Asian Games Champion

Kim Woojin beat his Korean teammate Lee Woo Seok in a five-set recurve men’s final at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia to become the first archer to win individual gold at the event twice.

Woojin also won the Asian Games in Guangzhou in 2010.

“I’m extremely happy to win a Games that only takes place every four years two times,” he said.

“I wasn’t in good shape before these Asian Games. I made a lot of mistakes during the competition and I showed a bad image to my fans. It was very difficult.”

Despite qualifying fourth of the Korean men, Kim was picked to shoot the eliminations in a tournament in which only two athletes per gender per country may advance to matchplay.

It wasn’t a simple path through the bracket and Woo Seok looked in better form, shooting a higher average, as the pair made the gold medal match.

The final was tight, points traded back and forth as Lee and Kim found themselves tied at 4-4 with one regulation set left.

Both started eight, then nine.

Lee finished with another nine; Kim kept his cool, popping his glasses before delivering a final 10 to win the set, the match and his second Asian Games title.

“I told [Woo Seok], ‘you did well’, after the match, as usual,” said Woojin. “We were both nervous.”

Zhang Xinyan of China won recurve women’s gold in Jakarta by beating Indonesian home favourite Diananda Choirunisa, 7-3. Zhang opened and closed the five-set match with a perfect 30.

Arriving in Jakarta, Zhang was ranked 113th in the world and her only senior international tournament experience was the fourth stage of the 2018 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Berlin, Germany.

Korea beat India in both the compound team finals, but not by much.

The compound women’s team gold medal match came down to the last end, where Korea closed with 58 out of the possible 60 points and India shot 55. Korea took the match, 231-228.

The compound men’s team gold medal match went all the way to a shoot-off after regulation ended in a 229-point draw.

Both teams scored 29 points with the three-arrow tiebreaker, but Korea had one shaft land in the X10-ring, in the very centre of the target, to win the gold medal on a measure.

Korea topped the archery medal table at the 2018 Asian Games with four golds and eight medals in total, followed by Chinese Taipei on two golds and four total, China on one gold and three total and Japan on one gold and two total.

Other countries recording at least one podium included India, Indonesia, DPR Korea, Malaysia and Iran.

The archery competitions at the 2018 Asian Games took place on 21-28 August in Jakarta, Indonesia.