India ended Korea’s 44-year dominance with a historic Asian Games win back gold

When the recurve competition began at the Asian Games, no one gave the Indian women’s team of Ankita Bhagat, Kirti Sharma and Kumkum Mohod much of a chance of toppling Korea’s dominance. Korea are world champions; they had the world’s No. 3 archer Kang Chaeyong in their ranks. You could argue that the recurve has always been their strong point and someone to disrupt that was almost impossible. But for Ankita, Kumkum and Kirti, reputation doesn’t really matter. They went neck-and-neck with Korea, ending their 44-year dominance in the women’s recurve team competition with a historic gold.

India beat Korea 5-3 in the final to reach the summit clash after seeing off China 5-1 in the semi-final as the Indian trio worked in tandem.

Asian Games, October 2 update

The journey of all three women to this point has also been fascinating. Take Kumkum for that. She only started recurve training three years ago and started her career with the traditional method. Bamboo bow.

Kirti was said to be too thin to hold a curved bow that would test the true strength of an archer. Ankita is a true veteran of the sport and has won a total of 23 international medals.

She was part of the women’s recurve team that won bronze in Hangzhou as India never made it to the finals. But that was about to change, and these three women were going to write their name in the history books.

ANKITA, KUMKUM, KIRTI SEPTEMBER IN NAGOYA

The Indian trio never showed signs of panic right after the semi-final match, even when under pressure. The conditions in Nagoya were not great for archery and scores were affected.

But with the entire archery contingent cheering them on, Ankita, Kirti and Kumkum knew they had a chance to make history.

First it was China.

There were a few eights and nines during the sets, but Ankita, Kumkum and Kirti always looked out for each other. Whenever it seemed like 10 were needed, one of them delivered.

During the semifinals, it was Kirti who hit 10 with the last arrows in the first and second sets to secure the points for India. In the final, India just needed to equalize and they delivered to secure a 5-1 win.

Then came the final against mighty Korea. Right from the start, the Korean trio of Kang, Lee and Yejin Oh set the mark. But India was never idle.

In fact, in the first two sets, Korea set up 54 and 56 and India reached the same level to lead at 2-2 and put the world champions in uncharted territory.

And the pressure of it all came in the third set. Korea hit a total of four eights with its six arrows. Meanwhile, India kept shuffling their pack to score 55 and take the lead.

In the fourth set, South Korea posted a score of 54, so India need to match that score to maintain the competitive level. Kirti initially registered 8 but the score was subsequently upgraded to 9 after a review. This also brought India to 54, leading to a tied set and a confirmed gold medal for the Indian team. (Credit: Asian Games Website)

There have been many watershed moments in sports in recent times, especially on the women’s side in India. The last time the compound archers shone brightly at the Asian Games.

This is the start for the recurve side to show they can contend with the best in the world. Now the golden girls have shown it. Now the mixed team and men have to follow it up.

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