[Asian Games] S. Korea wins 1 gold, 1 bronze in team recurve archery

South Korea picked up a gold medal and a bronze medal in team recurve archery at the Asian Games on Sunday.

   In the women's recurve final, Jung Dasomi, Chang Hye-jin and Lee Tuk-young cruised to a comfortable 6-0 win over China in the set score to add another gold to the country's already extensive medal collection in the sport. The Chinese archers were Cheng Ming, Xu Jing and Zhu Jueman.

   From the get go, China put up a feeble defense against the stalwart South Koreans, shooting a 7 and an 8 with no 10s in the first set. It managed only two 10s throughout the event, against South Korea's eight, handing the victory to favorite South Korea.

   "All of us are very happy that we were able to make history once more," said Lee Tuk-young during an interview after the trio's match. Since 1998, South Korea has never failed to seize the Asian Games gold in women's recurve.

   "I think our 10 months of hard and tiring training paid off, looking at today's results," the smiling Lee added.

   Despite the foggy weather, the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field was a full house on Sunday. Joo Hyun-jung, who earlier withdrew from the recurve team match following a shoulder injury, was also among the crowd of fans rooting for the players from their home country.

   "It feels so good, as if I won the gold medal myself," said Joo, close to tears as she hugged her fellow teammates after their match.

   "I believed (the South Korean team) would win, since I had a dream a few days ago about handing the three of them a gold medal as a gift before their game," Joo said while patting the three winners on the back.

   Japan claimed the bronze after a dramatic shoot-off with India.

One of its arrows was determined to be a 10 instead of a 9, awarding Japan a one-point victory. The events took place at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field in Incheon, the host city west of Seoul.

   The gold was South Korea's third archery title at this Asian Games following two gold medals in women's individual and team compound archery Saturday. It is also South Korea's fifth straight Asiad gold in the women's team recurve.

   In the men's recurve third-place match, South Korea's Lee Seung-yun, Ku Bon-chan and Oh Jin-hyek eked out a narrow 5-3 victory in the set score against Japan.

   In the battle largely comprised of 9s and 10s, Japan's Takaharu Furukawa, Hideki Kikuchi and Shohei Ota ferociously chased after the South Koreans after losing out in the first set.

   Japan was tied with South Korea 3-3 by the third set but shot two 8s in the final set to finish fourth in the event.

   With the bronze, South Korea redeemed itself after a crushing defeat to China in the men's team recurve semis earlier, which ended its winning streak at the Asian Games at eight.

   China won the gold medal after defeating Malaysia 6-0. (Yonhap)