India wins first Asian Games gold in women's recurve team archery, ending South Korea's streak

By Yoo Jee-ho

OKAZAKI, Japan, Oct. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea came up short in its bid for an eighth straight Asian Games gold medal in the women's team event in recurve archery on Friday, settling for silver after a narrow loss to India.

The trio of Lee Yun-ji, Kang Chae-young and Oh Ye-jin lost to India by the set score of 5-3 in the women's team final of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square in Okazaki, some 50 kilometers southeast of the main host city, Nagoya.

South Korea had won every women's team gold in recurve since 1998 but India's Ankita Bhakat, Kirti, Kumkum Anil Mohod ended that streak.

In recurve team events, each of the three archers per team takes two arrows per set, for a total of six arrows and a maximum score of 60 points per set for each team. Teams earn two points for a set win and one point for a tie. The goal is to reach five points first.

South Korea and India put up the identical scores in each of the first two sets. With the set score knotted at 2-2, India won the third set 55-51 to grab a 4-2 lead.

Then in the fourth set, after Mohdo's final arrow hit a 10, judges took a closer look at Kirti's first arrow to see if it had been an 8 or a 9. An 8 would have sent the match to a shoot-off, but it was ruled a 9, giving India the tie in the set and the clinching one set point for the gold medal.

On this sunny but windy day in Okazaki, archers for both teams struggled in gusts, with Lee and Kirti each hitting a 7 during the first set. The teams each put up 54s.

In the second set, the teams matched each other's 56s.

Then in the third set, all three South Koreans hit 8s with their final arrows, while India went 8-9-10 in their final three arrows to win the set 55-51 and take a 4-2 overall lead.

South Korea had a promising start to the fourth set before scoring 8-9-9 with their final three arrows. India posted scores of 9-9-10 to close out the set and the match.

This was the first Asiad gold in the women's recuve team event for India, which has dominated the compound discipline for years.