Kang Chae Young sets world record to lead qualification at world championships

Kang Chae Young broke her own world record by a point to take the top seed in the recurve women’s competition at the 2019 Hyundai World Archery Championships in ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.

The world number one scored 692 out of a possible 720 points over the 72-arrow 70-metre ranking round.

“The weather conditions were so good on the field today. The first half, I got 343 points so I wasn’t expecting a high score at the end. But as the round continued, I was scoring very well,” said Chae Young. “Near the end, there were many press people around me so I knew something was happening.”

“I am quite satisfied with my shooting but my last arrow was an eight which was regrettable, but generally I’m happy with my performance.”

At the halfway point, the 23-year-old sat in second behind Chinese Taipei’s Lei Chien-Ying. As the skies darkened but the air remained mostly dry, Kang unleashed a torrent of 10s to rack up 349 points for her back 36 arrows and build a significant lead.

She finished the round 12 points up on Lei and China’s Zheng Yichai, who tied on 680 points in second. (Lei took second seed with 15 Xs to Zheng’s 13.)

Behind Yichai were her two teammates, Meng Fanxu and An Qixuan, in the best performance over a ranking round for the Chinese women in some years.

Choi Misun, Chang Hye Jin and Tomomi Sugimoto – on 671 – completed the top eight.

The 104-athlete cut to advance to the eliminations fell at 613 points. Malaysia’s Shin Hui Loke won a four-way tiebreak to secure the last space in the bracket.

Korea, China and Chinese Taipei were the top-seeded recurve women’s teams. Germany, Great Britain, India, Ukraine and Japan also received byes into the second round of the team eliminations.

The quarterfinalists in the recurve women’s team event at this world championships will receive three-athlete quotas for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. They are decided on Wednesday.

The scores of Kang Chae Young (692) and top recurve men’s seed Lee Woo Seok (696) combined for 1388 and a new mixed team ranking round record by 20 points.

The 2019 Hyundai World Archery Championships take place on 10-16 June in ’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.