Preview: Shocks in store? No easy win for Korean women in Hermosillo

At the halfway point in the season, before the world championship break, it looked very much like Lim Sihyeon was going to join the pantheon of Korean recurve women to completely dominate during her debut international season.

She’d won the Hyundai Archery World Cup stages in Shanghai and Medellin – and looked very much in a league above.

Then the world championships happened, the Korean recurve women failed to qualify an Olympic quota, and neither Lim nor any of her teammates climbed the individual podium for the first time in decades. It was, for archery’s leading nation, not great.

But it wasn’t the start of a precipitous downfall. It was a blip.

Look for the two top seeds – Lim and teammate Kang Chae Young – to fight through tough matches but, ultimately, get back on track ahead of the all-important Asian Games.

Finals for the recurve women in Hermosillo start at 16h00 (local) on Sunday 10 September. Stream on archery+.

Line-up

The top two seeds are listed in bold and will be placed at opposite ends of the bracket. A match draw will determine the positions of the other archers.

• Lim Sihyeon, Korea (double stage winner)
• Kang Chae Young, Korea
• Penny Healey, Great Britain (stage winner, world number one)
• Peng Chia-Mao, Chinese Taipei
• Casey Kaufhold, USA (stage winner)
• Lisa Barbelin, France
• Michelle Kroppen, Germany
• Alejandra Valencia, Mexico (host nation representative)

Bold prediction

The hometown crowd puts Alejandra Valencia over the hump.

Six career Hyundai Archery World Cup Final appearances to date – resulting in four quarterfinal exits and two fourth places.

It’s a record that statistically cannot continue, not when you’ve got the proven ability of a world championship runner-up, an Olympic medallist, and someone who’s peaked at number three in the world rankings.

All Alejandra ever needed was the home crowd.

(The ideal situation: Her campaign in Hermosillo finishes with a win, either in the gold or bronze medal match, to really give the spectators something to cheer for.)