S. Korea takes bronze in mixed team recurve archery event

South Korea secured the bronze medal in the mixed team recurve archery event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday. Despite their inability to claim gold in their second consecutive archery event, Kang Chae-young and Kim Je-deok emerged victorious over Japan's Nanami Asakuno and Junya Nakanishi with a score of 5-1 in the bronze medal match at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square, located 50 kilometers southeast of Nagoya.

This marks the debut of the mixed team event in recurve archery at the Asian Games in 2018. South Korea had previously won gold in the same event in 2023, but Kang and Kim fell short of repeating their success after losing to China's Zhu Jingyi and Liu Mengqi 6-0 in the semifinals earlier that day. In mixed team matches, each archer shoots two arrows per set for a total of four arrows, aiming for a maximum score of 40 points.

A set win awards two points to the winning team, while a tie earns each team one point. The first team to accumulate five points claims victory. Kang and Kim put up a valiant effort against Zhu and Liu in the semifinals. Kim's six arrows across three sets included two 7s and one 8, while Kang achieved four 8s. In the bronze medal match, the South Korean team scored a total of 39 points.