Korea wins women's team gold in recurve archery

From left, Korean archers An San, Choi Mi-sun and Lim Si-hyeon pose with their gold medals in the final of the women's team recurve archery at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Center in Hangzhou, China, Oct. 6. Yonhap

Korea claimed the gold medal in the women's recurve team archery event at the 19th Asian Games in China on Friday, solidifying its unrivaled prowess in the sport.

The trio of Lim Si-hyeon, Choi Mi-sun and An San defeated China by the set score of 5-3 for the seventh consecutive Asiad gold medal at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Center in Hangzhou.

This is the second archery gold for Korea, following the title in the mixed doubles event Wednesday, where Lim also competed.

Lim became a double gold medalist at the Hangzhou Asian Games, joining a group of eight Korean multi-medalists, including swimmers Hwang Sun-woo and Kim Woo-min and fencers Choi In-jeong and Oh Sang-uk.

Korean archers react after winning the final of the women's team recurve archery at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Center in Hangzhou, China, during the 19th Asian Games, Oct. 6. Yonhap

She will have three gold medals if she wins the women's individual recurve title against her teammate An, who won three golds in the Tokyo Olympics two years ago, Friday.

For An and Choi, the gold medal is their first career Asian Games title.

Korea has dominated the women's team event, winning 10 golds out of 12 Asian Games tournaments since 1978, when the sport was first contested as a medal program.

Since the 1998 Asiad, Korea has never failed to win the title in the discipline.

In the recurve team event, each archer takes two arrows per set, for a total of six arrows and a maximum of 60 points per set for each team. Teams earn two points for a set win and one point for a tie.

Choi Mi-sun, right, of Korea competes in the final of the women's team recurve archery at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Center in Hangzhou, China, during the 19th Asian Games, Oct. 6. Yonhap

The two countries drew 58-58 in the first set, with four 10s each.

In the second set, Korea won the set 55-53 as China's last archer shot a 7.

The third set was won by China 56-55 as the host hit three 10s, tying the set score at 3-3.

Korean archers remained firm in the final fourth set as Korea opened the set with two 10s and China had one. After An hit an 8 on her second shot, Choi and Lim added two 10s to reach 57 points, while China's two last shooters hit two 8s for 54 in total. (Yonhap)