FURUKAWA takes Olympic revenge on OH in Antalya quarterfinals

12 June 2014

Antalya (TUR)

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Both the recurve men’s semifinals in London went to shoot-offs, with OH and Japan’s FURUKAWA earning their right to shoot against each other for Olympic gold with under-pressure single-arrow victories. At Antalya 2014, it was a similar story that set up their quarterfinal match-up.

FURUKAWA needed a shoot-off to get past Jake KAMINSKI, representing the USA, while OH recovered from a big deficit to beat Pierre PLIHON – the Frenchman who came second in Shanghai this year.

Back at London 2012, OH stormed to a 7-1 victory and claimed the Olympic title – the first ever for a Korean man – for which he’s now famous. During today’s reenactment, he wasn’t so dominant.

“The first couple of events I really wasn’t sure about the bow set-up,” he said. “I was making fine adjustments through the match, and I thought it was getting better… but it was the end of my tournament this time.”

His Japanese opponent shot two straight 29 sets to close out the match and put the Olympic Champion out of Antalya 2014, six set points to four.

While it was on everyone else’s minds, that London final wasn’t in OH’s thoughts. “It wasn’t an issue: the equipment was the problem,” he reaffirmed. “I’ve been getting better and better all tournament and a loss like this won’t affect our men’s team matches tomorrow.”

The revenge won’t spring Takaharu free to gold in Antalya, though. He couldn't beat OH’s teammate KU Bonchan in the semifinals. KU will face Germany’s Florian KAHLLUND in the final, who was the shock fifth seed after the ranking round.

Top qualifier for the second World Cup stage in a row, KIM Woojin lost to the Netherland’s Rick VAN DER VEN in the fourth round. “I was aiming off as usual, but the wind just got stronger and stronger,” explained KIM. “We’re training outdoors every day in Korea, but it’s not usually as strong as this.”

Chinese athlete CHENG Ming will shoot against CHANG Hye Jin, the Korean number two seed in Antalya, for recurve women’s gold on Sunday.

Competition at the third 2014 Archery World Cup stage in Antalya runs from 11-15 June. Check scores, event news and visit World Archery’s Facebook page and @worldarchery on Twitter for coverage.