China Archery

China wins silver in women’s archery team event in Guangzhou 16th Asian Games on Nov 21, 2010.

GUANGZHOU – The gold medal winning Korean women’s archery team used the daunting experience of handling snakes as part of its training methods.

Team coach Cho Eun-sin was surprised when news slipped out about the practice after her team won its fourth consecutive Asian Games gold medal in the women’s team event at the Aoti archery range on Sunday. China took the silver and India the bronze.

“I wonder how did you find out the secret of our success,” said Cho when asked about the team’s strange training ritual.

“Actually, (the story) is about 80 percent true. We do have special training to enhance bravery.”

It seems the scary, scaly initiative worked. Locked in a battle royal with the young Chinese archers, the three experienced Koreans held their nerve in a second extra period to shoot three 10-point scores.

“They had the ability to reach that level,” said Cho. “They got nervous when the scores were tied, but I tried to let them relax and be themselves. In the tiebreak we said this was our chance to win. We did our best and our efforts paid off.”

Korea is not the only team to adopt a strange approach to boosting the fortitude of its athletes.

To prepare for the Asian Games, Chinese archers were required to touch a tiger’s rear at the zoo.

“We paid attention to controlling our emotions. We can shoot as well as them (the Koreans), but the win came down to who played better under pressure,” said Chinese archer Cheng Ming.

China’s coach, Tian Yulin, said: “The most important thing for the team was to gain hands-on experience, and this was the best training they could get.

“It was their first time in such a tense international competition and they won a silver,” said Tian. “There’s a gap between Korea and China, but it is very slim. It’s just a matter of time before we catch up.”

Source: China Daily

25 September 2010, SHENZHEN – Following the impressive Opening Ceremony on September 23rd, the 8th World University Archery Championship competitions have started. After the rains during the last several days due to the passage of a typhoon, the sun has taken the place in the sky. Despite of the high temperature and the humidity, it was nevertheless a better weather for the best world university archers.

On the program of this first day were the qualifications for the Men and Women Recurve and Compound Bow as well as the Mixed Team competition, for which the bronze medals have already been attributed. Technical conditions were just perfect in the Shenzhen Stadium. Our CT Chair Juan Carlos Holgado and FITA Technical Delegate Frankie Hoong were very satisfied about the way the competition was running, and also by the level of the archers. The best of them are competing in the World Cup events and other big international events.

Finland bowed the first medal of Compound Mixed Team bronze. The gold medal will be competed between the United States and Iran. The bronze medal of Recurve Mixed Team went to Chinese Taipei, who beat Republic of Korea 12-7. Italy and Japan will go to the final on Sunday.
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An athlete competes in the crossbow archery event at the sports games in Rongshui Miao autonomous county in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Sept 24, 2010. The second ethnic minority sports games were held in the county on Friday. More than 2500 athletes from 21 ethnic minorities, including the Miao, Yao and Dong groups participated in the games this year.

Source: Xinhua