Observations from Incheon: archery at the Asian Para Games edition

Typical. For days before the start of competition, the sun shone and the weather conditions in Incheon were perfect for archery. But ranking round day drew around fast – and things quickly deteriorated.

The athletes at the Incheon 2014 Asian Para Games have suffered persistent rain, wind and cooling temperatures. But that’s not kept Iran and Korea dominating qualification and the early stages of eliminations.

Some observations from the first two days of competition in Incheon…

Iran top recurve rankings: World Champion Zahra NEMATI topped the 70-metre qualification by 25 points. The Iranian reigning Paralympic Champion – in fact, the first woman from Iran to win gold at either an Olympic or Paralympic Games – scored 638 points, to lead second-ranked recurve woman in the open event, YE Yinyan from China.

Iran led the men’s recurve competition as well. Ranjbarkivaj EBRAHIM totaled 655 for 72 arrows. Three new athletes from Pakistan tailed the ranking table, which included an encouraging 36 competitors.

Korea qualifies high: LEE Ouk Soo managed 692 for the 50-metre round; twenty points ahead of men’s open teammate SHIN Dong-Heon. The top two in the nine-strong women’s event were Korean, too.

Only 12 points separated the top four after W1 class qualification. KOO Dong Sub was in front, while KIM Ok Geum – who, as the only woman in the class at the Incheon Games, shot with the men – finished ahead of one of their male Korean teammates.

Mixed teams mixed: With only Korea able to field a W1 mixed team in Incheon, team managers decided to allow the pair to compete in the compound mixed team event.

W1 competition class athletes may use either a modified, 45lb-max compound bow with recurve sight or a recurve shot with a release aid.

Early round upsets: Twelfth seed ONODERA (JPN) beat fourth seed RAHIMI, of Iran, in the recurve men’s open competition. Second-ranked W1 qualifier KAKOOSH, also representing Iran, went out to Korea’s JANG – the seventh seed.

Medals guaranteed: Two Iranian women are into the semifinals of the recurve open competition – so the country has already secured a podium spot. China and Japan hold the other two places.

The Incheon 2014 Asian Para Games continue this week with finals broadcast and repeated on online Korean television through the weekend.