Korea wins 8 of 10 titles at Asian Championships

Korea won all but two of the available gold medals at the 2017 Asian Archery Championships in Dhaka, Bangladesh, as India took the remainder, with the Korean team collecting a total of 14 podium finishes at the last international event of the outdoor season.

“It’s been such a long time since Korea won first, second and third in the individual event at an international competition. I don’t remember how long, but such a long time. It’s really meaningful for our team to have achieved this here,“ said London 2012 Olympic Champion Ki Bo Bae.

Ki finished third in the recurve women’s event, behind teammates Choi Minseon and winner Lee Eun Gyeong.

After missing out on a place in the three-athlete squad sent to the Hyundai World Archery Championships in Mexico City, it wasn’t certain that Bo Bae would travel to the Asian Championships; she held her wedding ceremony just one week prior to the tournament.

“My marriage is personal. At the same time, I am a member of the national team,” she said. “I can have my private time after this tournament but I have a responsibility to this team.”

As well as its compound women setting a new qualifying world record, Korea contested all 10 gold medal matches – individual, team and mixed team – in Bangladesh.

The squad’s only two losses came at the hands of Indian archer Abhishek Verma in the compound men’s competition and India’s compound women’s team, who shot a perfect 60-point last end to steal victory in a match in which they had trailed from the start.

The next time top teams from the two leading compound nations in Asia are likely to face is the Asian Games, taking place in August 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Japan, Chinese Taipei, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Iran and Kazakhstan all collected medals at the 2017 Asian Archery Championships, which also awarded six quota places for the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games to five countries, including two to India.

The 2017 Asian Archery Championships ran 25 to 30 November in Dhaka, Bangladesh.