Japan’s men beat Korean recurve team in the Shanghai wind

The opening salvos from both Japan and Korea in the recurve men’s team final were rough. As the wind picked up over the river that flows through the centre of Shanghai City, arrows dropped low and left. 

In the first set alone, Korea had two eights – and eight over the short match. Japan landed a seven, but still took the early lead – winning the first set by a point.

The second was split – putting the Japanese trio in a position to take the match with a win in the third.

Normally so able to raise their game with gold on the line, Korea were not better. In fact, KIM Woojin, KU Bonchan and OH Jin Hyek shot their worst set of the tournament, a very uncharacteristic 49 points. 

OH shot the last arrow, a seven, and walked off the line looking none-too-impressed. 

The man that lost to Jin Hyek in the final of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Takaharu FURUKAWA, shot the last arrow for the Japanese team – and needed to score just a four to take the match. 

He shot an X – right in the middle of the 10. 

“We did what we set out to do,” said FURUKAWA, after walking off the finals field as victorious gold medallist. “This year is all about qualifying for the Olympics, of course – but we will try to win everything we can.” 

The Korean women had a far more comfortable match. 

Averaging 9.5 points an arrow through the 18 the trio shot – a tournament-high for the new 2015 Korean squad – they outclassed their opponents. 

It looked like the German team would fight back in the third set. 

“They came back at us with three 10s,” recalled Olympic Champion KI Bo Bae. “But we managed to shoot three ourselves.” 

It seemed to knock the fight out of Germany. 

KI and teammates KANG Chae Young and CHOI Misun dropped two more 10s and a nine to seal the match. It was almost disappointing the penultimate arrow did not hit max score, as well. 

“This is a new team, so we worked on the shooting order until it felt right,” added Bo Bae, as she made her way back to the practice range to prepare for her individual bronze medal match later in the day. 

Both bronze matches went the full four sets. 

The USA led the women’s final heading into the fourth and last and Japan failed to put much pressure on, scoring 53 points. Khatuna LORIG, LaNola PRITCHARD and Ariel GIBILARO planted a series of arrows in the nine before LORIG took to the line to shoot the final arrow – into the X10, for the win. 

Five-time Olympian LORIG praised her new team’s energy, which she hopes to take forward to the worlds in Copenhagen where the team can win the quota spots needed to send her to a sixth Olympiad: “We’re going to practice more, bond together and get to trust each other a little more.”

The most exciting match of the morning session: possibly Spain and Indonesia’s recurve men’s bronze final. 

Fourth ranked Indonesia jumped to a 4-0 set point lead over 14-seed Spain, but then collapsed. The Spanish drew back to tie the match and send it to a shoot-off, where the Indonesian team found their form again. 

Score in the shoot off: Indonesia 28, Spain 25. Bronze to the Asian team. 

Read more about Shanghai 2015.