DPR Korea’s women on winning track

Two 10s and a 9 broke the rarely-seen squad into the quarterfinals. The USA could only manage a 26 total.

“Our athletes have trained well,” said DPR Korea coach. “Some are professionals and others combine archery and studies.”

RYU Un Hyang and CHOE Song Hui, both 25, have been shooting internationally for a few years. KANG Un Ju is the one to watch, though. New on the scene at the age of 19, she took the sixth individual seed on the ranking round.

The trio did shoot together at Belek 2013, the last World Championships – but it looks like they’ve upped their game a notch since then. Either that, or they’re just feeling particularly inspired today – a national holiday in their nation.

Follow scores from the first 2014 Archery World Cup stage in Shanghai.

UPDATE: DPR Korea will shoot for bronze against Japan, live on Archery TV on Sunday.