Korean archer Kang Yeon-seo, right, lines up a shot during the compound women's team archery semifinal between Korea and India at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 in Okazaki, Japan, on Sept. 30.AP/YONHAP
OKAZAKI, Japan — Still two months shy of her 15th birthday, compound archer Kang Yeon-seo became Korea's youngest medalist at the ongoing Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Wednesday.
Kang joined Park Jung-yoon, 29, and Park Ye-rin, 20, for the bronze medal in the women's team event at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square in Okazaki, Japan.
After helping her team to a 229-228 win over Chinese Taipei in the bronze medal contest, Kang said she was determined not to let her youth get in the way of accomplishing even more.
“Honestly, people talk a lot about me being the youngest in this and that, but I have been training really hard regardless of my age,” Kang said following the medal ceremony. “I will try to bring home another medal from the individual event.”
Kang has made it to the quarterfinals in the women's individual event, with medals scheduled to be determined Thursday.
Kang and her team nearly slew a giant in the semifinals, where they barely lost to defending champion India, 234-233. India went on to win its second straight gold medal.
“I knew the Indian archers were good, and we came so close,” Kang said. “But I am also pleased we got the score we wanted.”
Park Ye-rin said she felt confident Korea could take down India.
“We went in thinking we could win, and I thought the momentum would swing in our favor at some point,” she said. “But they were pretty steady. We have to try harder the next time.”
Korea's bronze-winning archery team members celebrate on the podium during the medal ceremony for the compound women's team competition at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 in Okazaki, Japan, on Sept. 30.AP/YONHAP
There was even more drama during the bronze medal match.
In team competition, three archers per team each take two arrows per “end,” with a maximum score of 60. The total points after four ends, or 24 arrows per team, determine the winner, with the maximum score being 240.
Korea finished the fourth end first with 229 points. When Chinese Taipei's final archer, Huang I-Jou, stepped up, she needed a 10 to win the bronze medal outright for her team or a 9 to force a tie and a shoot-off.
Huang instead shot an 8, a rare score in compound archery, where targets are set 50 meters (164 feet) away, 20 meters closer than recurve, and archers use mechanical release aids and magnified sights.
“Yeon-seo and I were holding our hands together, praying for at least a shoot-off,” Park said. “Obviously, it was a sad ending for them, but we were grateful for the way it ended.”
The women's team event in compound was the very first medal event in archery at this Asiad. Park said while she was slightly disappointed not to accomplish the team's ultimate goal of winning a gold medal, she was also glad all three archers got to put a medal around their necks.
Kang added, “This is the first Asian Games for all three of us, and that is what makes this bronze medal so special.”
