Korea's recurve archery team celebrates on the podium during the victory ceremony after winning silver in the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 at Okazaki Central Park Multipurpose Square in Okazaki, Japan, on Oct. 2.REUTERS/YONHAP
OKAZAKI, Japan — Korea came up short in its bid for an eighth straight Asian Games gold medal in the women's team event in recurve archery on Friday, settling for silver after a narrow loss to India.
The trio of Lee Yun-ji, Kang Chae-young and Oh Ye-jin lost to India by the set score of 5-3 in the women's team final of the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square in Okazaki, Japan.
Korea had won every women's team gold in recurve since 1998, but India's Ankita Bhakat, Kirti and Kumkum Anil Mohod ended that streak.
In recurve team events, each of the three archers per team takes two arrows per set, for a total of six arrows and a maximum score of 60 points per set for each team. Teams earn two points for a set win and one point for a tie. The goal is to reach five points first.
Korea and India put up identical scores in each of the first two sets. With the set score knotted at 2-2, India won the third set 55-51 to grab a 4-2 lead.
Then in the fourth set, after Mohod's final arrow hit a 10, judges took a closer look at Kirti's first arrow to see if it had been an 8 or a 9. An 8 would have sent the match to a shoot-off, but it was ruled a 9, giving India the tie in the set and the clinching point for the gold medal.
India's recurve archery team celebrates winning gold in the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 at the Okazaki Central Park Multipurpose Square, in Okazaki, Japan, on Oct. 2.REUTERS/YONHAP
On this sunny but windy day in Okazaki, archers for both teams struggled in gusts, with Lee and Kirti each hitting a 7 during the first set. The teams each put up 54s.
In the second set, the teams matched each other's 56s.
Then in the third set, all three Koreans hit 8s with their final arrows, while India went 8-9-10 in their final three arrows to win the set 55-51 and take a 4-2 overall lead.
Korea had a promising start to the fourth set before scoring 8-9-9 with their final three arrows. India posted scores of 9-9-10 to close out the set and the match.
This was the first Asiad gold in the women's recurve team event for India, which has dominated the compound discipline for years.
