Kang, Oh break mixed team ranking record as Korea leads recurve qualifying in Jakarta

Korea’s Kang Chae Young and Oh Jin Hyek scored a combined 1364 out of a possible 1440 points to set a new recurve mixed team ranking round world record and lead qualification at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The previous world record of 1343 points was shot by the Ukraine in August. Mixed team qualification records were introduced in July.

London 2012 Olympic Champion Oh’s individual score of 683 points led the men by four.

His Korean teammate Im Dong Hyun ranked second on 679 and Bangladesh’s Md Ruman Shana, an Olympic Solidarity-supported resident athlete at the World Archery Excellence Centre in Lausanne, seeded third with 677.

Kang Chae Young scored 681 points, one more than teammate Lee Eun Gyeong. Olympic Champion Chang Hye Jin seeded third with 677.

Both Kang and Oh’s rounds were new Asian Games records, since this is the first edition of the event in which the 72-arrow 70-metre round is used.

(Until Incheon 2014, qualification was completed using the 1440 Round.)

The Asian Games’ unusual two-athlete-per-country maximum for the brackets means it is as yet unclear who exactly will shoot for the individual titles – and whether or not Oh Jin Hyek and Jung Dasomi will have a shot at defending their crowns.

Korea also seeded top in both the recurve men’s and women’s team competitions. Kazakhstan’s men produced perhaps the biggest ranking performance of the nation’s archery career, trailing Korea by just 35 points and ranking second.

The archery competitions at the 2018 Asian Games take place on 21-26 August in Jakarta, Indonesia.