Korea wins first gold medal at Rio 2015 Olympic test event

First seed Korea – represented by Olympic Champion Ki Bo Bae, Kang Chae Young and Choi Misun – shot a 2026-point qualification round to become the only recurve women’s team that qualified straight to the quarterfinals in the Sambódromo.

There were 11 teams at the Rio Olympic test event.

In all three of their matches – quarters, semis and final matches – Korea won in straight sets, 6-0, beating Georgia, China and Ukraine, one after the other.

During the gold medal match against Ukraine, Olympic Champion Ki Bo Bae put all her arrows but one into the 10-ring.

“I think my intensive training is paying off,” Ki said. “This first gold medal in Rio is just a great honour, as I’m already an Olympic Champion. Maybe next year, I get the same chance to celebrate again.”

Korea started the match with a 59-point set against Ukraine’s 52, to take the lead and never look back.

Ki, Kang and Choi are, said team head coach Yang Changhoon, in harmony. Reason enough for Kang to dream about winning the gold with no-one else but with Ki and Choi at Rio 2016.

“This is an awesome experience ahead of the Olympics next year,” said Chae Young. “We all are working a lot to make the Olympic team and hopefully next year we will able to celebrate as we just did. I would love to do it again with Bo Bae and Misun!”

In the bronze medal match, China - silver in London 2012 - beat USA by 6-2.

London 2012 team silver medallist Xu Jing said the match gave them the confidence for the Games: “We didn’t perform well through the day. We were ranked fourth but we didn’t do well in our previous matches. This medal give us a little of hope. We prove to ourselves that we can make it happen if we want.”