China makes historic breakthrough at Archery World Cup

The archery World Cup Shanghai stop runs from Aug. 4-9, attracting 233 archers from 31 countries and regions.SHANGHAI, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) — China made a historic breakthrough in the men’s recurve of the Archery World Cup Shanghai stop here on Sunday as Chen Wenyuan claimed the title.

It was the first gold won by Chinese male archers in world major competitions, and it was also the only recurve gold didn’t claimed by S. Koreans here in Shanghai.

After ousting South Korean veteran Im Dong Hyun in the semifinal, Chen was quite confident and calm in the final to beat another South Korean Oh Jin Hyek 113-109.

“I am satisfied with my performance today,” said Chen. “I had good concentration in the final and all I thought about was a win.”

“Chen’s performance was almost perfect,” said Wu Yuling, head coach of the Chinese archery team. “I am so happy to see him winning the gold. The level of our archers improved a lot in recent years, and the gold medal will encourage us.”

Im Dong Hyun beat Cheng Chu Sian of Malaysia 109-108 to take the bronze.

Archery powerhouse South Korea displayed its power by clinchingall the other four gold medals in the recurve events.

In the women’s individual final, world No. 1 Yun Ok Hee showed her talent to defeat Berengere Schuh of France by 109-107, while her compatriot Kwak Ye Ji ousted Zhao Lin 104-102 to take the bronze.

Yun Ok Hee, Kwak Ye Ji and Joo Hyun-jung collected 221 points to win the 24-arrow women’s team final, out shooting Russia by 11 points.

The Chinese women’s team, consisting of Zhao Ling, Zhu Jiani and Ouyang Ruyu, lost to South Korea in the semifinal on Saturday, and failed to take the bronze as they was down by Italy 210-203 earlier on Sunday.

In the men’s team final, South Korean Im Dong-Hyun, Olympic champion in Athens, Lee Chang-Hwan and Oh Jin Hyek defeated France216-207 to clinch the gold, while Mexico beat Spain 205-203 to take the bronze.

South Korea also claimed the mixed team recurve gold as Yun Ok Hee and Oh Jin Hyek shot an almost perfect 153 to beat the Chinese Zhao Ling and Chen Wenyuan, who shot a 141 in the final.

In the compound events, Mexico nipped New Zealand 222-221 in the men’s team final while Russia outdid Mexico 212-206 to win women’s team gold medal. Denmark also pocketed a gold in the mixed team event by defeating Mexico 153-152.

Sergio Pagni from Italy and Camilla Soemod from Denmark took the title of men’s and women’s individuals respectively.

South Korea is leading the overall medal standings by four gold, one silver and two bronze medals, followed by Denmark with 2-0-0 and Mexico with 1-2-1. China took the sixth with 1-1-2.