(Asian Games) S. Korea grabs one gold, two silver medals in archery

JAKARTA, Aug. 27 (Yonhap) — South Korea collected one gold and two silver medals in team archery events at the 18th Asian Games on Monday, with one more day of archery left in Jakarta.

South Korea had a team in each of the three gold medal matches at GBK Archery Field on Monday: the women’s recurve team, the men’s recurve team and the mixed team in compound.

All three finals were against Chinese Taipei, and South Korea batted 1-for-3.

From left: South Korean recurve archers Kang Chae-young, Lee Eun-gyeong and Chang Hye-jin wave to the crowd at GBK Archery Field in Jakarta after winning the women’s team event gold medal at the 18th Asian Games on Aug. 27, 2018. (Yonhap)

The lone gold came from the women’s recurve team event, as the trio of Chang Hye-jin, Kang Chae-won and Lee Eun-gyeong defeated Chinese Taipei 5-3 in the set score. The victory extended South Korea’s gold medal streak in the women’s recurve team event to six.

The women’s recurve team event has been contested 11 times, and South Korea has now won nine gold medals.

The men’s recurve team of Oh Jin-hyek, Kim Woo-jin and Lee Woo-seok, and the mixed compound team of Kim Jong-ho and So Chae-won took home silver medals.

Team recurve matches use the set system, where each side receives two set points for winning a set of six arrows — two arrows per archer. If two teams are tied in the set, they each get one point. The first team to reach five points wins the match.

Compound team matches use cumulative scoring, and each archer shoots two arrows per “end.” The total score after four ends determines the winner.

In the women’s recurve final, the teams were tied at 3-3 through three sets. In the fourth set, Chang hit a 10 with her final arrow to give South Korea 54 points. Chinese Taipei had 27 points with three arrows remaining, and went 8-9-9 to settle for 53 points to concede the set and the match.

In the men’s final, the two sides were also tied at 3-3 heading into the fourth set. With South Korea’s penultimate arrow, Lee hit an 8, and the team ended up with 55 points.

South Korean recurve archers Oh Jin-hyek (L) and Kim Woo-jin (R) console their teammate Lee Woo-seok after the team’s loss to Chinese Taipei in the men’s team final at the 18th Asian Games at GBK Archery Field in Jakarta on Aug. 27, 2018. (Yonhap)

Chinese Taipei first thought it also had 55 points at first, which would have set up a shoot-off. But officials ruled that Tang Chihchun’s first arrow of the fourth set had hit a 10, instead of 9 as initially scored, and that gave Chinese Taipei 56 points for the set and the match.

South Korea won bronze in the men’s team recurve four years ago. The country has never before gone back-to-back Asian Games without winning gold in this discipline.

With the compound title at stake, Chinese Taipei took a 114-113 lead into the fourth set. Kim and So put some pressure on the opponents with a 9 and a 10, and Chen Yishuan and Pan Yuping came back with consecutive 9s, leaving the score deadlocked at 132 with two arrows left.

After So shot a 10, Kim stumbled with an 8. After Chen’s 9, Pan had to hit a 10 for the win, and he delivered with a shot down the middle.

South Korea came to Jakarta with an eye on winning every archery gold medal, but the bid was foiled early when Chang and Kang were eliminated from the gold medal contention in the women’s individual recurve event and Kang and Lee Woo-seok lost in the quarterfinals of the mixed team recurve event.

South Korea is assured of gold in the men’s individual recurve final on Tuesday, as teammates Kim Woo-jin and Lee Woo-seok will face each other. But for the first time in Asian Games history, there will not be a South Korean in the women’s individual recurve final.

The men’s and women’s compound teams will also compete in their respective finals on Tuesday.

South Korean compound archers Kim Jong-ho (L) and So Chae-won bump fists during the mixed team final against Chinese Taipei at the 18th Asian Games at GBK Archery Field in Jakarta on Aug. 27, 2018. (Yonhap)