Shanghai 2024: China, India win historic recurve team gold medals
The Chinese recurve women’s team overcame difficult weather conditions and a strong Korean challenge to win the Hyundai Archery World Cup season opener in Shanghai, before India clinched their first men’s team gold medal in 14 years.
Number one seed in all three team events, Korea only won one of the three gold medal matches played on a rainy Sunday morning, when the World Champion pair of Kim Woojin and Lim Sihyeon beat Spain in a shoot-off.
Andres Temiño and Elia Canales needed a 10 to win the match, but Canales’ nine could only force a tie-break in which Spain scored 18, leaving victor to Korea with 19.
“I did my best today, but it was a hard day,” Asian Games Champion Sihyeon later admitted. “It was difficult to control the arrows.”
Earlier, the second seeded women’s team of An Qixuan, Li Jiaman and Yang Xiaolei rode on a strong crowd support to defeat rookie Koreans Nam Suhyeon and Jeon Hunyoung shooting alongside Lim.
“It’s incredible,” said 27-year-old Jiaman, the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games Champion. “Our trust on each other helped us today.”
“Thank you to all the audience, my teammates and coach for cheering us throughout the match. It encouraged us to reach our aim today.”
China’s gold medal was followed by an Indian shock win over top seeds Kim Woojin, Kim Je Deok and Lee Wooseok. The Korean men’s team won all four World Cup stages in 2023 and is reigning Olympic and World Champion.
The second seeds Dhiraj Bommadevara, Pravin Ramesh Jadhav and Tarundeep Rai tackled the weather conditions better.
The Indians played consistent shots to win the closing two sets of the gold medal match after the two teams were tied at one point each after the first set.
“No doubt, they are tremendous shooter,” said Rai. “But I think they didn’t read the weather conditions well.”
This is a historic victory, as the last time the Indian men won an Archery World Cup gold medal was back in Shanghai 2010.
“It was another good day for India,” added Tarundeep. “It took us 14 years to reclaim our victory here in Shanghai.”
“It’s just the beginning, we are going to work harder to qualify for the Olympics.”
This was a first World Cup gold for promising Jadhav and Bommadevara.
“It’s amazing,” said 22-year-old Dhiraj, who also showed promise in the individual matches. “It’s our team bonding and hard work that was the key here.”
India had another medal to celebrate in the recurve team matches after he combined with Ankita Bhakat to thump Mexico in straight sets for mixed team bronze.
Competition in Shanghai concludes with recurve individual finals in the afternoon.
Podiums: Shanghai 2024
Full results on the event page.
Recurve men’s team
- India (Dhiraj Bommadevara, Pravin Ramesh Jadhav, Tarundeep Rai)
- Korea (Kim Je Deok, Kim Woojin, Lee Wooseok)
- Chinese Taipei (Lin Zih-Siang, Tai Yu-Hsuan, Tang Chih-Chun)
Recurve women’s team
- China (An Qixuan, Li Jiaman, Yang Xiaolei)
- Korea (Jeon Hunyoung, Lim Sihyeon, Nam Suhyeon)
- Germany (Katharina Bauer, Charline Schwarz, Elisa Tartler)
Recurve mixed team
- Korea (Lim Sihyeon, Kim Woojin)
- Spain (Elia Canales, Andres Temiño)
- India (Ankita Bhakat, Dhiraj Bommadevara)
Watch coverage from Shanghai with a subscription to archery+.
