South Korea captured four compound archery gold medals at the Summer Universiade on Tuesday.
First, it was the men’s team over Mexico 230-229 for the title at Gwangju International Archery Center. Then the mixed team followed suit by beating India 157-150. In the men’s individual final between two South Koreans, Kim Jong-ho defeated Kim Tae-yoon 147-145 for his third gold medal of the day.
Finally, in the women’s individual final, Song Yun-soo knocked off Toja Cerne of Slovenia in a thrilling shoot-off, after both scored 143 points in five ends. Song and Cerne both hit 10s in the shoot-off, but the South Korean’s arrow was closer to the center of the target.
South Korea missed out on the complete sweep of compound events by taking bronze in the women’s team event.
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| (Yonhap) |
In the men’s team competition, Kim Tae-yoon, Yang Young-ho and Kim Jong-ho rallied for the narrow victory, closing out with two straight 10s and watching the Mexicans slip up with 9s on their final three arrows.
Later in the day, Kim Jong-ho teamed up with Song Yun-soo for the mixed team gold medal over India’s Kawalpreet Singh and Jyothi Surekha Vennam.
South Korea led 79-75 after two ends, as Song shot four consecutive 10s while Kim contributed three scores of 10. Song fired two more 10s in the third end as South Korea put the match out of reach at 118-112.
Song’s streak of 10s ended with the first arrow in the fourth end, but she found the center of the target with her final shot.
Kim fired a pair of 10s in the final end to clinch the breezy victory.
In the men’s individual final, both archers scored 29 in the first end, but Kim Jong-ho opened a two-point lead with a perfect 30 in the second end, while his opponent only mustered a 28.
Kim Jong-ho went up 88-85 after three ends. Kim Tae-yoon put up a perfect 30 in the fourth end but Kim Jong-ho countered with a perfect score himself, and still led by three at 118-115.
Kim Tae-yoon had another perfect score in the fifth end, but it was too little, too late, as Kim Jong-ho put up a 29 to secure a two-point victory and become South Korea’s first triple gold medalist at this Universiade.
The day’s final gold medal was also the most dramatic.
Song and Cerne were tied at 58 after two ends. In the third end, Cerne shot a potentially disastrous 8 for a 28, but Song couldn’t take advantage of her opponent’s mistake and scored a 28 herself.
Cerne then built a slim 115-114 lead with a 29 in the fourth end, while Song, held back by a pair of 9s, shot a 28.
They were level at 134 with one arrow left. Shooting first, Song hit a 10 and put pressure on the Slovenian. Cerne needed a 10 to win but managed a 9 to fall into a shoot-off.
Cerne went first in the shoot-off and nearly hit the bull’s-eye. Yet Song stepped up and fired one even closer to dead center for an unlikely victory. (Yonhap)
