Olympic champion OH Jin Hyek reigns supreme

The mixed team gold medal match featured the USA (No. 5) against India (No. 3). Brady ELLISON, world No. 1, shot according to his rank: seven 10s and only one 9 to help the USA total 154 points. The Indian pair Deepika KUMARI and Jayanta TALUKDAR suffered two 7s in the first ends; despite a great finish with four 10s, they had to settle for silver. Gold medal for Olympic medallists Khatuna LORIG and Brady ELLISON! 

The bronze medal match was between top qualifiers Korea and Mexico. Olympic champion OH Jin Hyek couldn’t seem to find the 10, shooting eight 9s, but his teammate CHANG Hye Jin was impressive with mostly 10s. Korea led throughout the match, but Mexico’s Aida ROMAN and Juan René SERRANO came back on the last three arrows to force a shoot-off. That’s when OH delivered his first 10, followed by an 8 for ROMAN. CHANG shot a 9 to get the bronze medal for Korea. 

After winning the team gold together this morning, Koreans JIN Jae Wang and OH Jin Hyek came back as competitors in the men’s individual final. After losing three World Cup gold medal matches (Shanghai 2009, Ogden 2010, Antalya 2011), Olympic champion and top qualifier OH had another shot at gold today. He built a good lead (4-0). His 22-year-old opponent, who defeated world No. 2 IM Dong Hyun in semi-final, came back to 4-2. The fourth set was tied, and OH won the fifth for his first individual World Cup gold medal! 

In the bronze medal match, Asian champion Khairul Anuar MOHAMAD (MAS/4) met the surprising Shungo TABATA (JPN/23), who edged out Olympic silver medallist Takaharu FURUKAWA earlier in the competition. A quarter-finalist at the Olympics, the 21-year-old MOHAMAD won silver at Shanghai 2011. However, TABATA was the best today. He led 2-0, 4-2, and finally won the match 6-4. Bronze medal and a first World Cup podium for the 25-year-old Japanese! 

Deepika KUMARI, mixed team silver medallist, returned to the field for the women’s gold medal match. She was the runner-up at the last two World Cup finals, and achieved her first World Cup victory at Antalya 2012 at age 17. Her opponent YUN Ok-Hee, 10 years older, was a team Olympic champion and individual bronze medallist in 2008 and World Cup Final winner in 2010. KUMARI won the first set with 29 points, but YUN came back to 2-2. The archer from India took the lead again in the third set (4-2), and the Korean archer regained it (4-4). Shooting first in the final set, KUMARI could have won with a final 10, but she scored an 8. YUN, who needed a 10 to take the set, delivered! She won the Shanghai World Cup for the third time, including wins in 2006 and 2009. Asked if she would change the silver to gold if she had magic powers, KUMARI answered: “No I wouldn’t because I don’t deserve it right now. If I had shot better, then I would have deserved the gold. “I will try my best in Antalya again.”

The bronze medal match was between former Olympic team champion and individual world champion JOO Hyun-Jung (KOR/5) and rising star TAN Ya-Ting (TPE/6). TAN defeated Olympic champion KI Bo Bae earlier in the week, and led her team to gold this morning. She led 4-2 in this match, but the Korean archer came back to 4-4. Both women then shot 29 points, resulting in a shoot-off. TAN scored a 9, followed by another 9 by JOO, closer to the centre. Bronze medal for Korean archer JOO !

Here concludes the Shanghai World Cup. We will be back as from 10th June in Antalya for the second stage! 

World Archery Communication