S. Koreans finish 1-2-3 in women’s archery preliminaries

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 5 (Yonhap) — South Koreans claimed the top three positions in women’s archery preliminaries at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Friday.

World No. 1 Choi Mi-sun topped the field with 669 points in the 72-arrow event, followed by Chang Hye-jin (666 points) and Ki Bo-bae (663 points).

The top 64 archers from the ranking round qualified for the individual competition. The three compatriots will avoid each other until the semifinals.

The three archers’ combined score of 1,998 points gave South Korea the top seed in the team competition. Russia had 1,938 points, followed by China with 1,933 points.

South Korea is unbeaten in the women’s team event, with seven gold medals in a row dating back to 1988.

From left: South Korean archers Ki Bo-bae, Choi Mi-sun and Chang Hye-jin pose before their target after completing the ranking round at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in this Associated Press taken on Aug. 5, 2016.

Ki, who won both the team and the individual gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, said she’s trying to recall some fond memories from that event.

“Thinking about how I performed back then should help me get through a big event such as this,” she said.

In Rio, Ki can become the first female archer to win consecutive individual Olympic gold medals, but the world No. 3 said she won’t look that far down the road.

“Now that we’ve completed the ranking round, I will only think about the team event two days later,” she said. “I will start focusing on the individual event only after the team competition.”

Earlier Friday in the men’s ranking round, South Korean Kim Woo-jin finished first with a 72-arrow world record of 700 points. Kim’s teammates Ku Bon-chan (681 points) and Lee Seung-yun (676 points), finished sixth and 12th.

South Korea has won 19 Olympic archery medals to lead all nations, and is going for an unprecedented gold medal sweep in Rio.

The quest begins with the men’s team event on Saturday.