Female archery teams sweep two weekend golds

Korean female archers dominated team events held during the weekend, leaving no doubt that they are still rule the world in the sport.

In the women’s recurve final held yesterday at Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field, Jung Dasomi, Chang Hye-jin and Lee Tuk-young beat their biggest rival, China, with a set score of 3-0 to pick up their second gold medal in team events. Korea won the women’s compound team final on Saturday.

By winning all the team events, Korea has defended its Asian Games title and also extended an Asiad winning streak the of five that started at the 1998 Bangkok Games.

In the first set, Korea beat China 54-51, then edged the Chinese by one point, 56-55, in the second before dominating in the third set, 58-53. In the event, each competitor gets two shots per set for a total of six per team. Four of the shots by the Koreans the last set were 10 points each, while the other two were nine. The Chinese four nine-point shots and two that were eight points.

“We all stuck together as a team to make a good finish,” said Lee Tuk-young who got the chance to compete in Incheon due to a shoulder injury to 32-year-old veteran Joo Hyun-jung. “We struggled in recent international events, but I think the main event was this [Asian Games]. We are very happy for what we have done today.”

In the women’s compound final Saturday, Kim Yun-hee, Seok Ji-hyun and Choi Bo-min won gold medal by beating Taiwan, 229-226. India took the bronze, besting Iran 224-217.

Koreans enjoyed home advantage during an international competition for the first time in a decade.

Korea wasted no time to take the lead, beating the Taiwanese 59-56 in the first end. The Koreans had five 10-point shots out of six attempts while the Taiwanese managed only three 10 points.

Taiwan, however, was not about to make it easy for their opponents, beating Korea in the second by one point, 58-57, but the Koreans started rolling in the third end, shooting three 10-pointers and three nines to finish the end with 57 points against 54 for the Taiwanese.

Taiwan outshot Korea 58-56 in the last end, but Korea won by having three more points in the cumulative score.

In the post-match interview, the Korean archers paid tribute to their former coach, Shin Hyeon-jong, who died last year from a cerebral hemorrhage during a competition in Turkey.

“I think she helped us to win this match from heaven,” said Choi Bo-min. “We are so happy that we were able to make a good finish in the final.”

BY KWON SANG-SOO [sakwon80@joongang.co.kr]