Lim, Li still wrestling but Korean improves late to top qualifying

The back-and-forth between Lim Sihyeon and Li Jiaman headlined the Hyundai Archery World Cup season opener last month in Shanghai – and it began competition at stage two in Yecheon.

Jiaman’s Chinese team dealt Sihyeon, and Korea, a shock loss last month. Sihyeon did take some revenge, beating Jiaman in the individual semifinals before going on to win the third circuit stage of her career – and in only four appearances.

The pair swapped places at the top of the recurve women’s qualification leaderboard all afternoon today on Sihyeon’s home ground, the Korean archer closing with two 59-point ends to ultimately secure pole.

“Today was exciting and I enjoyed it. Overall, I’m satisfied with the result,” said the world number two, whose final score for the 72-arrow round was 685 points.

Lim shot seven points more for her back 36 arrows than her first half. It was windy, left to right, at the start.

“We always compete in Yecheon. It’s great to have a World Cup stage here and compete in an environment we’re used to. That’s the reason I had a good result,” she added.

Jiaman ended the day third with 678, behind Lim’s Korean teammate Jeon Hunyoung (680) but ahead of Shanghai runner-up Deepika Kumari (677).

It’s Kumari’s best qualifying score since 2016.

“For me, it’s good. But for my team it’s not going well, I hope tomorrow we will do better,” she said. “[I need] confidence… because when I feel fear, I forget my technique a little bit.”

The Indian recurve women’s team seeded just sixth.

Sihyeon’s Korea were top. Ahead of… China. The next chapter of Lim-versus-Li coming up in Yecheon.

Competition continues with recurve team eliminations on Thursday morning, followed by individual matchplay in the afternoon.

Top seeds: Yecheon 2024

Full results on the event page.

Recurve women

1. Lim Sihyeon, Korea – 685
2. Jeon Hunyoung, Korea – 680
3. Li Jiaman, China – 679

Nine archers shot 670+. The top-64 cut was 639 points.