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Korea’s recurve teams take double gold on home soil

22 mai 2022

Gwangju, Korea

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Korea's recurve women's team with their gold medals at Gwangju 2022

Korea’s recurve men’s and women’s teams took dominant wins at the second stage of the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup on home soil in Gwangju as Germany won its first-ever recurve mixed team title on the circuit.

An San, Choi Misun and Lee Gahyun defeated a German side featuring Katharina Bauer, Michelle Kroppen and Charline Schwarz, 5-1, to extend the Korean recurve women’s incredible winning record on the circuit to 25 stage wins in 37 appearances.

“Since it’s the first competition that we have in Korea, I was a little bit nervous but thanks to the people that are here we were able to win,” said Gahyun.

Local hero An San, the triple Olympic gold medalist from Tokyo who was shooting on home ground at the Gwangju Women’s University, echoed her teammate’s appreciation for the local support.

“It was great that we did not have to adjust to a new time zone but also, we had a lot of people coming to support us,” she said.

“When I first got onto the field I was nervous, but my teammates calmed me down.”

Only the first set was tight, with both teams scoring 55 before the hosts pulled away.

It was the second successive recurve women’s team silver for the European trio on the circuit after they lost to Great Britain in the Antalya final last month.

Korea’s recurve men’s team of Kim Woojin, Kim Je Deok and Lee Woo Seok followed up the women’s victory with a straight-set beating of Italy’s Mauro Nespoli, Alessandro Paoli and David Pasqualucci. Like the German women, it was the Italian men’s second successive silver on tour.

The Korean team did not shoot less than 57 points in any of the three sets and dropped just six points in the whole match.

“I am very happy that we allowed the crowd to have a good time and won for them,” said Woojin. “We did a good job here.”

Woo Seok spoke of the team’s singular focus.

“Rather than looking at our opponents, we just focused on what we were doing and it helped us to shoot well,” he added.

Spain’s men and India’s women won the recurve team bronze medals on Thursday.

Korea did not feature in the medal matches of the recurve mixed team competition in Gwangju, having been eliminated by the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. The Dutch duo were, in turn, defeated by Germany – who leave Korea with an historic result.

Katharina Bauer and Felix Wieser delivered a dramatic comeback win over the USA, 5-3, to take their country’s first-ever stage win in the event.

“It feels awesome. We are really happy,” said Bauer. “We are such a good team. We also practice together at home so winning it with Felix feels like a little dream coming true.”

Competition concludes this afternoon in Gwangju with the recurve final fours.