South Korea’s women’s archery team, one of the world’s strongest, failed to finish in the individual competition at the World Championships following a poor team showing.
Three-time Tokyo Olympian Ahn An (Gwangju Women’s University), Kang Chae-young (Hyundai Mobis) and Lee Im-hyun (Korea Gymnastics University) were all eliminated in the quarterfinals of the women’s recurve individual competition at the Berlin 2023 World Archery Championships on Saturday (June 6) in Berlin, Germany.
First up was An An (Gwangju Women’s University), who fell to Casey Kopold (USA) with a set score of 4-6 (28-29 27-28 28-28 30-29 29-29).
Kang Chae-young (Hyundai Mobis) lost her semifinal match against Satsuki Noda (JPN) by a set score of 5-6 (26-27 28-29 29-27 28-28 28-27<10-10>) in a shootout.
In the final shootout, Kang and Noda shot 10 points side by side, but Noda’s arrow was closer to the center of the bull’s-eye. In a shoot-off, if two players shoot the same score, the winner is the one who is closer to the center of the bull’s-eye.
The last player to compete was the youngest player, Lim Im-hyun, who lost her match against Marie Horatskova (Czech Republic) with a set score of 0-6 (27-29 28-29 28-29).
After teaming up with Kim Woo-jin (Cheongju City Hall) to win the gold medal in the mixed event, LIM had to put off her dream of a double.
After an easy start in the qualifying rounds, with Lim finishing second, Kang Chae-young third and Ahn An fourth, the Korean duo were unable to overcome the pressure of the set-based tournament. The global leveling of the game is also a factor.
It has been 12 years since Korea’s women’s recurve team failed to win an individual medal at a World Championship since Turin 2011.
Earlier in the day, the women’s team lost to Indonesia 3-5 (54-55 59-52 51-53 56-56) in straight sets in the team competition and were eliminated in the round of 16.
This is the first time the women’s team has been eliminated in the round of 16 since winning the women’s team title in Berlin in 1979, their first World Championship appearance. It is also the second time in 24 years that the team has failed to qualify since Lyon 1999.
Meanwhile, in the men’s individual recurve competition, the youngest member of the team, Kim Jeduk (Yecheoncheon-gun), will be looking to make it to the quarterfinals. 스포츠토토