The South Korean trio of Oh Jin Hyek, Kim Woojin and Ku Bonchan went in to the gold medal match full of confidence after overcoming the United States in a fiercely contested semi-final on Friday (May 29) but it was China who came out on top, winning 5-3. 

China shot numerous sevens in the first two sets and looked in danger of being on the wrong end of a whitewash, but after managing to bring themselves back onto level terms at 2-2 they never looked back.

With the score at 4-2 going into the last regulation set, the Chinese secured the set draw they needed to win the match as both teams scored 58 points.

“After the match was tied, we found our own confidence,” said China’s Wang Gang.

“We simply focused on our shooting.”

It’s the second time in recent history that China have beaten South Korea - the last came at the Asian Games when they pulled out a straight-sets victory - but the first time they have won an Archery World Cup men’s team gold.

The less-fancied French outfit claimed the bronze medal, edging out the US 5-4 after a tiebreaker. 

Meanwhile in the equivalent women’s event, there was further disappointment for South Korea as they lost 6-2 to Japan.

The reigning Olympic team champions found themselves 4-0 behind in next to no time, as Japan opened up with a pair of 56-point sets.

They edged back into it after Saori Nagamine missed to chance to seal the match, landing in the eight when a nine was needed.

But Nagamine didn’t make the same mistake in the fourth set, shooting a nine, when an eight was all that was required, to secure the first team gold medal for Japan’s recurve women in the circuit’s history.

“We were training harder and harder to beat them because they knocked us out in the semi-finals in Shanghai,” said Japanese third Yuki Hayashi.

In the bronze medal match, defending champions China beat Taiwan 5-1.

South Korea went a long way to making up for their two losses by taking the men's and women's singles recurve titles, as well as the mixed team recurve crown.

Lee Seungyun outdid fellow countryman Kim in the men's final, with the US's Collin Klimitchek in third, while the women's top honours went to Choi Misun, who was joined on the podium by compatriot Ki Bo Bae and India's Deepika Kumari.

Choi and Kim combined together to win the mixed team event, beating China's Qi Yuhong and Xing Yu in the final as Japan's Kaori Kawanaka and Takaharu Furukawa came away with the bronze medal. 


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