Oh Jin Hyek tops tricky ranking round with 654 at first international of 2019
London 2012 Olympic Champion Oh Jin Hyek topped an extremely windy recurve men’s qualification at the fourth stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Berlin, Germany. The Korean archer led the field with only 654 out of a possible 720 points.
“My conditions were good considering the strong wind. At points, it was hard for me to have a clear view of the target, so I’m happy to get good results and finish first,” he said.
Berlin is Jin Hyek’s first international tournament of the year. He failed to make the primary squad this season and is shooting this event with the Korean reserves.
His score of 654 was tied with Chinese Taipei’s Kao Hao-Wen – but Oh shot 33 10s to Kao’s 23 and secured pole position.
“I’m happy to be back at international competition. Based on my experience and this event, I hope to get good results next year to make the national team and represent Korea at the Olympics,” said the 37-year-old.
Turkey’s Mete Gazoz ranked third with 653 points. At the halfway point, Mete was 11 ahead of the rest of the recurve men.
“I didn’t know there was such a big gap. I just checked my score and knew I was first, but I didn’t care about the second, it’s never important for me. Normally, I feel confident and good in the wind except for today’s second half, I guess,” he said.
“The first half was much better for me as I was able to understand the wind, but in the second round I couldn’t do the same; it was a lot more difficult. Because of this, I made some mistakes and couldn’t finish first.”
Feng Hao, Im Dong Hyun, newly crowned World Archery Champion Brady Ellison, Mauro Nespoli and Atul Verma completed the top eight.
Korea led the recurve men’s team ranking with 1939 points. China followed with 1927 and India had 1924. The latter two teams contested the world title a few weeks ago, with China winning.
Oh and top recurve woman An San seeded first in the recurve mixed team event.
The fourth stage of the 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup takes place on 1-7 July in Berlin, Germany.
