Korea and Türkiye share the spoils at 14th Conquest Cup

Korea and Türkiye emerged as the dominant nations at the 14th Conquest Cup in Istanbul, with the host nation topping the medal table with nine medals – five gold and four silver – and Korea claiming five across five days of competition at Okçular Vakfı.

Italy’s Matteo Borsani and Korea’s Yu Seulha won the recurve individual titles, respectively, while Defne Cakmak delivered a home gold in compound women and 19-year-old Ivan Siniaev claimed the compound men’s crown.

Borsani, 23, closed the competition with a 6-0 victory over fellow Italian and two-time Olympic silver medallist Mauro Nespoli to secure recurve men’s gold, accounting for two of Italy’s three medals at the event.

The path to the final was cleared in part by the early exit of top seed Choi Chuljun. The 19-year-old Korean entered the eliminations after posting 680 in qualification – an Asian record in the 70-metre recurve under-21 round – but was upset in straight sets by Türkiye’s Huseyin Kakasci, who had qualified 33rd, in the round of 16.

Mete Gazoz, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Champion who had finished runner-up in each of the past two editions, was unable to improve on those results and finished ninth.

Yu backed up her top qualification score with a 7-3 victory over defending champion Elif Gokkir in the recurve women’s gold medal match.

The 18-year-old advanced to the final by defeating fellow Korean Lee Juye in the semifinals, while Lee rebounded to take bronze and secure a second podium finish for Korea in the event. Roberta Di Francesco of Italy, the highest-ranked woman in the field entering the week, was eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Siniaev produced one of the standout runs of the competition in compound men. Seeded ninth after qualification, the 19-year-old eliminated top seed Emircan Haney – the world number four and reigning Conquest Cup champion – in the quarterfinals on a 10-9 shoot-off after the pair tied at 145 points.

The individual neutral athlete then edged India’s Priyansh 145-144 in the semifinals before defeating Venkatadri Kunderu 144-140 in the gold medal match. Priyansh secured bronze, placing two Indian archers on the podium.

Türkiye swept all three spots on the podium in compound women. The top two seeds from qualification, Yesim Bostan and Cakmak, met in the final, with Cakmak edging her compatriot 142-140 for gold. Hatice Efdal Kose defeated Esmanur Fenerci 140-138 in an all-Turkish bronze medal match.

Amanda Mlinaric of Croatia, the two-time defending champion, finished ninth individually but left Istanbul with gold after pairing with Domagoj Buden to win the compound mixed team final over Türkiye’s Bostan and Haney.

That result was one of six team finals contested across the week, with Türkiye winning four gold medals. Türkiye beat Belgium for recurve men’s team gold, with Korea taking bronze, before losing the recurve women’s team final to Korea, while Moldova secured bronze.

Gokkir and Gazoz combined for recurve mixed team gold over top-seeded Yu and Choi. In compound, Türkiye defeated Saudi Arabia in both the men’s and women’s team finals – Hungary took bronze in the men’s event – while Mlinaric and Buden closed the week with compound mixed team gold over Türkiye, with Saudi Arabia taking bronze.

Winners: Conquest 2026

Full results on the event page.

• Recurve men: Matteo Borsani, Italy
• Recurve women: Yu Seulha, Korea
• Compound men: Ivan Siniaev, AIN
• Compound women: Defne Cakmak, Türkiye