News

Korean squad remade ahead of postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

31 March 2021

Yecheon, Korea

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Kim Woojin at the Korean national team trials in 2021.

Archery’s leading competitive nation, Korea, has announced its recurve squad for the upcoming season.

As is tradition for the team, eight men and eight women form the cohort that trains at the national centre for the year, rather than at their professional clubs, with the top three selected for major events like the worlds and, this year, the Olympic Games.

Two major names are missing from the roster in 2021.

Reigning Olympic Champion Chang Hye Jin was eliminated during the most recent selection stage, which finished this weekend. Im Dong Hyun, the longest-standing member of the squad and an Olympic medallist at three Games, previously indicated his international retirement after not making the final 20.

World numbers one and three, Kang Chae Young and Kim Woojin, headline the rosters.

London 2012 Olympic Champion Oh Jin Hyek, 2013 World Archery Champion Lee Seungyun and the impressive Lee Woo Seok are also on the men’s list.

The emerging young star of 2019, An San, joins the experienced Jung Dasomi in the women’s line-up – as does Ryoo Su Jung, the mysterious pro who became only the second woman in history to shoot 1400-plus points on the four-distance 1400 Round but has yet to make her mark on the international team.

Otherwise, the names are largely new (in the senior context, at least).

Korea will continue its in-squad trials over the next month until the final three-athlete teams for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games are selected on 23 April.

The pandemic has brought change. Gone is the consistency of the past few years. The Korean team is likely to look very different than when we last saw it in action just 18 months ago.