China reaches recurve men’s team final on home stage
Host China secured two recurve medals at the 2023 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai, as the men’s team reached the gold medal match and the women won bronze.
The men’s trio of Li Zhongyuan, Qi Xiangshuo and Wang Dapeng were at the top of their game in much calmer weather conditions than Wednesday’s torrential rain.
“Weather conditions never affected our focus or game,” Dapeng said. “But yes, today it’s better than yesterday.”
They will hope to add to their gold medal from Antalya last month when they face Korea on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the women’s team of An Qixuan, Hai Ligan and Mengyao Zhang beat Indonesia in the bronze medal match.
“Playing and winning a medal at your motherland is always great,” An said. “We are happy to add another medal to our silver at Antalya.”
“For us, we want to stand on the podium of all the events and qualify for the Olympics.”
China lost their semifinal to Chinese Taipei 5-3, in sharp contrast to the men’s team, who beat Spain 6-2.
Dapeng, who has replaced on the men’s team Wei Shaoxuan for this event, was pleased with China’s rhythm and believes they can go on and win gold.
“We tried to give our best shot and are excited to play the finals,” he said. “This is the first time we will play the final together. It’s been only a few months that we have paired together.”
The Chinese archers have a tough task ahead, with Korean men in ominous form after breezing past Japan 6-0 in the semifinals to back up a 6-0 quarterfinal win against India and a 5-1 fourth round victory against Israel.
Korea will contest both the men’s and women’s finals, with the trio of An San, Kang Chae Young and Sihyeon Lim marching through to a date with Chinese Taipei.
Keeping an Asian flavour, Japan won the recurve men’s bronze medal by beating Spain 5-4 after a tiebreaker in a thrilling contest.
“We concentrate to shoot at the centre every time,” said Japan’s Takaharu Furukawa.
”This year, this is our first medal together, so we are very motivated and excited for the year ahead.”
Competition continues in Shanghai with compound individual elimination this afternoon.
Team results: Shanghai 2023
Results as of Thursday 18 May. The gold medal matches are scheduled for Sunday 21 May.
Recurve men
- Gold medal match: Korea versus China
- Bronze medal match: Japan 5 – 4 Spain
Recurve women
- Gold medal match: Korea versus Chinese Taipei
- Bronze medal match: Indonesia 2 – 6 China
