‘Dramatic shoot-off victory’ Kim Ok-geum and Park Hong-jo win 2nd straight mixed archery match for the disabled AG (2 overall steps)

(Okazaki [Japan] = Yonhap News) Joint Reporters = Kim Ok-geum (66, Gwangju Metropolitan City Hall) and Park Hong-jo (43, Seoul City Hall), the oldest members of the Korean disabled national team, won gold medals for the second consecutive time in the archery mixed team event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games (Asian Para Games).

The team of Kim Ok-geum and Park Hong-jo achieved a dramatic come-from-behind victory with a set score of 5-4 (36-34 34-36 33-34 37-36 <17-15>) after a bloody close match that led to a shoot-off against China's Chen Meng-kan and Zhang Shan-xin in the final of the archery W1 mixed team event held at the multi-purpose plaza of Okazaki Central Park, Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 21st.

Korea took the lead by winning the first set 36-34, but was pushed to the edge by dropping the second and third sets.

However, he showed incredible concentration in the last 4 sets.

The two shots fired at the beginning of the set were caught on the border of 8 and 9 points, but after review, both were recognized as 9 points, and the set was taken by one point, 37-36, bringing the game back to square one.

In the shoot-off that followed, while China scored only 6 and 9 points, Kim Ok-geum and Park Hong-jo calmly shot 9 and 8 points, confirming a thrilling victory with a total score of 17-15.

With this, the two athletes achieved their second consecutive victory in this event following the 2022 Hangzhou Games, and gave the Korean paraarchy team its first gold medal at this event.

It was a result that wiped away the disappointment of failing to win a medal after suffering consecutive defeats in the men's and women's doubles matches held earlier.

On this morning, Park Hong-jo suffered a bitter defeat in the men's doubles (W1) bronze medal match paired with Ham Tae-jin (35, Daegu Transportation Corporation), and Kim Ok-geum suffered in the women's doubles (W1) final paired with Lee Eun-hee (56, Daegu Sports Association for the Disabled).

However, just a few hours later, the two players, who were back in the firing line, achieved a final achievement by winning a valuable gold medal with unyielding concentration in the mixed team event.