Recurve titles at Universiade go to top-ranked Korean archers Lee and Kang

Kang Chae Young and Lee Woo Seok won the recurve women’s and men’s titles at the 2019 Summer Universiade in Napoli, Italy as Korea led the medal table with four golds and eight podiums in total.

“I won in 2017 and here I am happy to be first again,” said world number one Chae Young.

“It was a little hard to shoot the bow in these conditions but I was really happy to get good scores by working hard. In the final, facing a teammate was a little more relaxing than usual so I was a bit less nervous and it was fun.”

Kang faced another Korean archer, Choi Misun, in the recurve women’s gold medal match.

The pair tied at the end of five sets and the match went to a shoot-off. Both shot 10s with their first tiebreak arrows and, under the rules, were sent back to the line to shoot a second.

Kang delivered another 10 while Choi shot an eight – and the 23-year-old successfully defended her title from Taipei in 2017.

The two Korean archers shot together and won the recurve women’s team event in Napoli. They beat Russia in the final, 5-1.

World number two Lee Woo Seok defeated Russian archer Erdem Tsydypov in the recurve men’s gold medal match. Having seeded first after qualification at this Universiade, it is a welcome victory for the 21-year-old.

“The Olympic gold medal is the biggest goal and the Universiade is a great competition to improve during the process of going to the Olympics,” he said.

Russia beat Chinese Taipei to recurve men’s team gold, 5-1, but Taipei took the recurve mixed team title over Japan, 5-3.

The team events at the 2019 Universiade consisted of two athletes rather than the standard three. Results of the team event will not contribute to the world rankings.

In 2021, the next edition of the Summer Universiade takes place in Chengdu, China in August.

The archery competitions at the 2019 Summer Universiade took place on 8-13 July in Napoli, Italy.