Women’s Compound Archery Advances to World Final

The Korean archery team is unmatched in the world but lags behind in the compound competition.

Archery is classified into the recurve, which is well known, and compound, in which the bow is equipped with pulleys on both ends.

Compound archery is unfamiliar to Koreans. Just a few in Korea compete in the category since it is not an official event at the Olympics or the Asian Games. The Korea Archery Association also pays little attention to the category.

The association formed men’s and women’s compound teams with three members each for the first time ahead of the World Archery Championship underway in Ulsan. None of the six advanced to the quarterfinals in the individual competition Saturday.

Korea’s record in this category is a far cry from that in the recurve category, wherein five of six Korean archers advanced to the semifinals.

The women’s compound team, however, has provided a pleasant surprise in the group competition of this year’s championship. The team comprises Seo Jeong-hee from the Cheongwon district office of South Chungcheong Province; Kwon Oh-hyang from Nam district office of Ulsan; and Seok Ji-hyeon from Korea National Sport University.

The women’s team yesterday advanced to the finals at Munsu International Archery Field in Ulsan, beating Brazil in the round of 16, Sweden in the quarterfinals, and Mexico in the semifinals.

Korea has just 18 compound archers, including those at universities and corporate employees. Today’s women’s final will pit Korea against Russia, which is considered the world’s best in the sport.

Seo said, “I was worried, but we’ve regained confidence that we too can win.”

In recurve, the men’s team of Oh Jin-hyuk, Lee Chang-hwan and Lim Dong-hyun, and the women’s squad of Joo Hyun-sung, Yoon Ok-hee and Kwak Ye-ji advanced to the finals without difficulty.

The men face France and the women Japan today.

uni@donga.com