Round-up: Korea prevents Chinese win as Shanghai returns to circuit

Korea shone with five wins – 11 medals in total – in all across the ten events held in China this week, as Shanghai hosted a stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup for the first time in four years.

It was a brilliant first showing of the season for archery’s dominant nation, who missed out the opening stage in Antalya last month.

The Korean archers claimed a clean sweep in the recurve team events, with China twice runner-up and one time bronze medallist.

Only Marcus D’Almeida, the two-time Olympian and 2021 world silver medallist, prevented a Korean clean sweep in the recurve events. 

The Brazilian was amongst a new quartet of archers who booked their place at the circuit’s grand finale in Mexico in September. 

A trio of new faces with Lim Sihyeon, Prathamesh Samadhan Jawkar, both 19, and Cho Su A, 22, earned their maiden international victories and are confirmed for Hermosillo.  

Victory for 19-year-old Lim in the recurve women’s event was a hugely impressive achievement, considering her three compatriots in the semifinals had five Olympic gold medals between them. 

Meanwhile in the compound individual events, Jawkar and Cho also upset the formbook to take victories despite their lack of experience.

Key takeaways

Wilde off to a flying start. There was plenty of intrigue about how Korea’s compound team would fare under new coach Reo Wilde, the former world champion and the first foreigner to join the country’s management team. He will have been thrilled to see Cho earn gold in the compound women’s individual. Korea were strong across the board in the compound events, taking silvers in the women’s team and the mixed team, while Yang Jaewon earned a bronze in the men’s individual.

New guard serve as reminder of unpredictability. Through the first two stages of the Hyundai Archery World Cup, no archer has got multiple individual podiums to their name, proof of the high level across the board, including from some newcomers on the international scene. Jawkar’s performance in the compound men’s individual was outstanding, scoring 149 out of a possible 150, and Lim’s showing in the recurve women’s event, where she scored 89 out of a possible 90, was just as impressive. With both archers just 19, and Lim in her World Cup debut, these were the sorts of performances that make people sit up and take notice. 

Vennam and Ojas here to stay. Only one stage winner in Antalya was able to back up that performance in Shanghai, with India’s Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Ojas Pravin Deotale making it back-to-back wins in the compound mixed team to lay down a marker ahead of next month’s third stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup in Medellin. Vennam could not follow up her individual success in Antalya, going out to eventual winner Cho in the third round, but this was another strong showing from the new pair.

Winners: Shanghai 2023

See full results online.

• Recurve men: Marcus D’Almeida, Brazil
• Recurve women: Lim Sihyeon, Korea
• Compound men: Prathamesh Samadhan Jawkar, India
• Compound women: Su A Cho, Korea
• Recurve men team: Korea
• Recurve women team: Korea
• Recurve mixed team: Korea
• Compound men team: Netherlands
• Compound women team: Mexico
• Compound mixed team: India

Top of the medal table was Korea (five gold, four silver, two bronze), followed by India (two gold, one bronze) and Netherlands and Mexico (one gold, one silver, one bronze each). 

A total of 293 archers from 39 countries competed in the second stage of the 2023 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai, China. Qualification and eliminations took place at the Yuanshen Sports Centre Stadium on 16-19 May, followed by finals on at the Lujiazui Riverside Promenade on 20-21 May. 

The international circuit now moves to Medellin, Colombia for its third stage on 13-18 June.