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Korea and Türkiye share the spoils at 14th Conquest Cup

8 June 2026

Istanbul, Türkiye

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Yu Seulha shoots at the 14th Conquest Cup

Korea and Türkiye emerged as the dominant nations at the 14th Conquest Cup in Istanbul, with the host nation leading the final medal table with nine – 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 men's and women's individual titles, respectively, while Defne Cakmak delivered a home gold in compound women and 19-year-old Ivan Siniaev claimed a dramatic compound men's title.

Borsani, 23, closed the competition with a 6-0 victory over fellow Italian and two-time Olympic silver medallist Mauro Nespoli to take recurve men's individual gold – resulting in two of Italy's three overall medals. The path to the final was cleared in part by the early exit of top seed Choi Chuljun.

The 19-year-old Korean entered eliminations after posting 680 in qualification – an Asian record in the 70-metre recurve under-21 round – but was upset by Türkiye's Huseyin Kakasci, ranked 33rd after qualification, 6-0 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, finishing ninth.

Ivan Siniaev celebrates at the 14th Conquest Cup

Yu, 18, backed up her No. 1 qualification score with a 7-3 victory over defending champion Elif Gokkir in the recurve women's gold medal match. Yu advanced to the final by defeating fellow Korean Lee Juye in the semifinals, but Lee rebounded to take bronze – giving Korea two podium finishes in the individual event. Roberta Di Francesco of Italy, the highest-ranked woman in the draw entering the week, was eliminated in the round of eight.

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

Siniaev then edged India's Priyansh 145-144 in the semifinals before defeating Venkatadri Kunderu 144-140 in the final. Priyansh took bronze, putting 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 – though she left Istanbul with gold after pairing with Domagoj Buden to win the compound mixed team final over Türkiye's Bostan and Haney.

Yesim Bostan and Defne Cakmak embrace at the 14th Conquest Cup

That result was one of six team finals contested across the week, with Türkiye winning four. Türkiye beat Belgium for recurve men's team gold, with Korea taking bronze, then lost the recurve women's team final to Korea, which held off a Moldova bronze.

Gokkir and Gazoz combined for recurve mixed team gold over top-seeded Yu and Choi. In compound, Türkiye beat 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 their week with compound mixed team gold over Türkiye, with Saudi Arabia claiming bronze.