S. Korea sweeps up 2 gold medals at stake in recurve team events

HANGZHOU, China -- South Korea swept up two gold medals up for grabs in the archery team competition at the 19th Asian Games on Friday, proving their world-class competitiveness on the regional stage.

The trio of Lim Si-hyeon, Choi Mi-sun and An San defeated China by the set score of 5-3 for the seventh consecutive Asiad gold medal at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Center in Hangzhou.

Hours later, Kim Je-deok, Lee Woo-seok and Oh Jin-hyek defeated India 5-1 in the men's team gold medal match held at the same venue.

These are the second and third archery gold medals for South Korea, following the title in the mixed doubles event Wednesday.

South Korea's female archers claimed the Asiad team title for the seventh consecutive time since 1998.

The country has dominated the women's team event, winning 10 golds out of 12 Asian Games tournaments since 1978, when the sport was first contested as a medal program.

Lim and Lee, who joined hands in finishing first in mixed doubles, became double gold medalists at the Hangzhou Asian Games, joining a group of eight South Korean multi-medalists, including swimmers Hwang Sun-woo and Kim Woo-min, and fencers Choi In-jeong and Oh Sang-uk.

For the men's team discipline, the gold medal is South Korea's first Asiad title since 2010. The archery powerhouse won the Asiad title from 1982-2010, but lost it in 2014 and 2018.

In the recurve team event, each archer takes two arrows per set, for a total of six arrows and a maximum of 60 points per set for each team. Teams earn two points for a set win and one point for a tie.

In the women's team final, South Korea and China drew 58-58 in the first set, with four 10s each.

In the second set, South Korea won the set 55-53 as China's last archer shot a 7.

The third set was won by China 56-55 as the host hit three 10s, tying the set score at 3-3.

South Korean archers remained firm in the fourth and final set as South Korea opened the set with two 10s and China had one. After An hit an 8 on her second shot, Choi and Lim added two 10s to reach 57 points, while China's two last shooters hit two 8s for 54 in total.

With two already in hand, Lim will have three gold medals if she wins the women's individual recurve title against her teammate An, who won three golds in the Tokyo Olympics two years ago, Friday.

For An and Choi, the gold medal is their first career Asian Games title.

The men's final went relatively handily for South Korea. The South Korean trio opened the first set with six perfect shots, while the Indians had only two 10s.

In the second set, the Indian team scored 57 points on three straight 10s, but Lee and Oh also responded with two bull's-eye shots to tie the set.

They took the third set by 56-55 on a seven-point miss shot by an Indian archer and grabbed the gold medal.

This medal is veteran archer Oh's second team gold at Asian Games, following the first one in 2010. He won silver in 2014 and bronze in 2018 in the team event. He won one individual gold medal in 2014.

"I was desperate for the team gold 13 years after the last one. I've worked really hard for this competition," the 42-year-old said. "Our younger teammates did so well. I just supported them."

Double gold medalist Lee, who won silver on the team at the 2018 Asiad, will compete for bronze in the men's individual event Friday. He earned an individual silver in the 2018 tournament.

"I'm so happy that we together won this team gold medal that we've waited so long for," Lee said. "I still have a game to compete. I'll do my best to get the bronze medal."

Teenage archer Kim, who already has two Olympic titles under his belt, won his first Asian Games gold.

In the stands, meanwhile, Euisun Chung, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, watched the men's team competition. He serves as the president of the World Archery Asia, the continental governing body for the sport of archery. (Yonhap)