Gold for China and Korea at Asian Para Games

Gold for China and Korea at Asian Para Games Guangzhou (CHN) – 17 December 2010   The final day of the archery competition at the Asian Para Games in Guangzhou was sunny but for most of the day was very cold. The recurve men and women team events took place at the Aoti Archery Range, close by the magnificent stadium.   The 1/8 elimination and quarterfinal rounds of the men’s event took place on the Ranking field. When they moved to the Finals field for the semifinals there was great debate on whether China could beat Korea and reach the gold medal match. In the other semifinal there was equal interest on whether the newer country, Iran, would beat the more established para archery country, Malaysia.   The China-Korea match was pretty close scoring but China simply shot more arrows into the gold to win 200-192.   The second semifinal was much closer with only 2 or 3 points lead to either side. Then the second archer for Iran shot a 3 and he and most other people thought that was match over. However, unaccountably because there was no wind, the lead off archer for Malaysia missed completely, so it was everything to shoot for by both sides! Neither team scored very well after that, perhaps anxious to not score low instead of "going for gold". Eventually Iran moved into the gold medal match 189-188.   After this disappointment Malaysia had to go immediately into the bronze medal match against Korea. To its great credit, the team from Malaysia did pull things together and won the bronze medal, perhaps as a present for its "Birthday boy" to whom the entire audience sang "Happy Birthday".   The gold medal match was rather a "one way traffic" in favour of China. Iran kept fighting but they simply did not get enough arrows in the gold, China winning 203-184.   There were only two teams entered into the recurve women team event so it was a gold medal match only. The old rivals China and Korea kept close scores but with Korea inching ahead each end it finally took the gold by 195 points to 190.   The crowd of school children was again a perfect audience. They cheered and clapped China and everyone else. With more teams present because of the better weather, we also had the Korean drum and gong group and the very vocal Iran team. It was a fitting end to this 1st Asian Para Games archery competition.   The organisation by GAPGOC and the work of the competition team under the leadership of DONG Wenjin was outstanding and has set a very high standard for others to follow.   The full results can be found on the competition's website here.   Carole HICKS World Archery Communication
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