S. Korea wins 3rd straight gold in men's archery team event

PARIS (Yonhap) -- South Korea claimed its third straight gold medal in the men's archery team event in Paris on Monday, after defeating the home team France in the final.

The trio of Kim Woo-jin, Kim Je-deok and Lee Woo-seok secured a 5-1 victory in the set score at Invalides in the French capital.

This is the third straight team gold medal for Kim Woo-jin, second straight for Kim Je-deok, and first for Lee.

As the third day of competition winds down at these Olympic Games, South Korea has already met its initial target of five gold medals.

South Korea won the women's team gold medal Sunday and has now swept the men's and women's archery team titles at three Summer Games in a row.

The individual competition will commence on Tuesday, with the women's and men's finals set for Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The mixed team event will take place Friday.

In archery team events, each of the three shooters takes two arrows per set, for a total of six arrows. A set win is worth two points, and a tie is good for one point. The first team to reach five points wins the match.

South Korea needed to be almost perfect against the French team that had the backing of a boisterous crowd. Both teams put up solid 57s in the opening set to each take a point.

In the second set, the South Koreans put up five straight 10s before Kim Woo-jin ended with a 9 for a 59. France opened the set with consecutive 9s before reeling off four straight 10s to fall one point short.South Korea held a 3-1 lead entering the third set.

Shooting first, the three French archers went 9-9-9. South Korea came back with 10-10-9.

When France finished off the set with 10-10-9 for 56, South Korea needed 28 points for the gold.

And the trio took care of business. Lee fired his sixth consecutive 10 to cap a perfect final, and Kim Je-deok followed with a 10 of his own. Kim Woo-jin, the elder statesman of the team at 32, put the icing on the cake with a 10. (Yonhap)