Korea starts archery medal run with silver in mixed team compound

Korea's So Chae-won compete in the final of the mixed team compound archery event at the Hangzhou Asian Games in Hangzhou, China on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Korea won its first medal in archery at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Wednesday, taking silver in the mixed team compound after a neck-and-neck final with a very strong Indian pair.

Korea’s So Chae-won and Joo Jae-hoon dropped just two points in the final, one in the first end and one in the fourth end, to finish with a total score of 158, one point behind India’s 159.

Despite the loss, Wednesday’s silver saw Korea defend its second-place from the 2018 Games, where So was also part of the team that lost to Chinese Taipei in the final. The mixed event was introduced in 2018.

Korea has been an archery powerhouse for decades, dominating both the Asian Games and Olympics since the 1980s. At the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where only recurve events were held, Korea won four of the five available gold medals.

The Asian Games also includes compound archery, a modern iteration of the sport using more high-tech bows that require less physical strength to draw. Korea is strong in both disciplines, winning two gold medals in each one at the 2018 Asian Games.

Korea’s performance at the last Asiad paled in comparison to the Tokyo Olympics. While Kim Woo-jin won the men’s individual recurve event and the women’s team of Chang Hye-jin, Kang Chae-young and Lee Eun-gyeong took the team gold, Korea took silver in the men’s team, bronze in the women’s individual and did not medal in the mixed team event.

Those results could look quite different this year after Korea’s dominance at the Olympics. Kim Woo-jin is the third-highest ranked male recurve archer in the world and the highest ranked in Asia, with Lee Woo-seok and Kim Je-deok both in the global top 10.

Over in the women’s recurve, Lim Si-hyeon sits at world No. 3 with Olympic record holder and the most successful Olympic archer ever An San at No. 5. Kang and Choi Mi-sun at No. 6 and 7, with no other Asian archers in the top 10.

Compound is more competitive, with Indian archers outstripping Korea on both the men’s and women’s world rankings, but Korea is still the second-highest ranked country on either ranking.

Korea has another shot at a medal later Wednesday in the first recurve medal contest, the mixed team event. Lim Si-hyeon and Lee Woo-seok will compete for Korea with the quarterfinals set to begin in the afternoon and the final scheduled in the evening.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]