AKIPRESS.COM - Kazakhstan climbed its first ever international archery podium and secured its first world gold medal by defeating Korea in a shoot-off at the first stage of the 2017 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Shanghai, China, World Archery said in a release on May 21.
Korea, represented, by Olympic Champion archers Oh Jin Hyek, Kim Woojin and Im Dong Hyun were beaten by three archers ranked 43rd, 129th and 175th in the world.
“We still don’t believe we won the Archery World Cup stage,” said Oibek Saidiyev. “It feels great to win gold. We prepared for it. We did it.”
“The main goal of the match was not beating Korea but to shoot well for Kazakhstan, to show that we have good archers and let the rest of the world see us, too. Working on executing our techniques and making clean shots was our goal throughout the competition.”
Korea shot 57 points to Kazakhstan’s 50 to take the first set convincingly.
Heads turned when Kazakstan swiped the second series, 55-54, after London 2012 winner Oh Jin Hyek send down a pair of eights. But Korea looked safe when the third went the favourite’s way, 56-50, and needed just a draw in the fourth set to win gold.
Both teams shot 28 out of a possible 30 for their first three arrows.