Powerhouse Korea sweeps recurve qualifications in Antalya

Recurve athletes battled it out in qualifications at four distances today in the Mediterranean Sea resort of Antalya. The men shot 36 arrows per distance at 90, 70, 50 and 50 metres, while the women shot at 70, 60, 50 and 30 metres.

Korea’s LEE Seungyun (photo) was the man of the day. At just 18 years old and competing in his first senior season, he scored a total of 1365 points (330 at 90 metres, 338 at 70 metres, 343 at 50 metres and 354 at 30 metres) to finish 9 points ahead of his closest opponent, Olympic champion and world N°1 OH Jin Hyek (1356). IM Dong Hyun was next (1349) for a Korean sweep of the men’s top three spots. 

China’s YU Xing was fourth. Former world N°1 Brady ELLISON (USA), who was eliminated prematurely in Shanghai, appeared to struggle at 90 metres with only 314 points to rank 17th after the first distance. However, the American archer scored higher than anyone else at 70 metres with 342 points, to climb back to the top five. He ended up in fifth place with 1343 points, just ahead of France’s Gaël PREVOST. Olympic silver medallist Takaharu FURUKAWA (JPN) finished eleventh. 

Can LEE, who didn’t go past quarter-finals in Shanghai despite qualifying second, do better here in Antalya? “I didn’t feel any pressure. I was very confident at 90 metres and shot well; my arrows went where I expected them to go. I look forward to shooting my first mixed team event with KI, with whom I trained in Korea.”

As a team, the Korean recurve men distinguished themselves with the highest score of all countries. Team champions in Shanghai, OH, LEE and IM gained a 42-point lead during the first distance and easily kept their advantage until the end. Behind Korea, all the other countries were much closer. China finished second, ahead of the United States, France and India. 

Korea dominated the women’s division as well. Double Olympic champion and world N°1 KI Bo Bae was untouchable. She had the best start at 70 metres, and concluded the day in first place with 1376 points, ahead of teammates YUN Ok Hee (1372) and JOO Hyun Jung (1366), Olympic medallist and recent winner in Shanghai. 

China’s Cui Yuanyuan settled for fourth, one point behind and just ahead of the surprising Ukrainian archer Anastasia PAVLOVA (main photo), only 18, who scored 1364. The highest ranked athlete from the Americas was the Colombian Ana Maria RENDON (photo), former Panamerican champion in 2008, who placed seventh. Another Latin American archer, world N°2 and Olympic silver medallist Aida ROMAN, who will take her best shot at improving on Shanghai’s 8th place finish, qualified eleventh. 

As a team, Korea took an early lead from the first distance ahead of China and Ukraine. These teams remained in the same order throughout the end of qualifications. Russia and Olympic bronze medallist Japan completed the top five. 

Korea also topped the mixed team ranking ahead of China and Ukraine. 

The bad news of the day came after the last distance shooting. Dola BANERJEE (IND) and Kaori KAWANAKA (JPN) forgot to report their totals in the paper scorecard, so according to World Archery rules, the Chairman of Judges considered the total at 30 metres to be 0. The athletes made an appeal which was rejected.

World Archery Communication