Chinese Taipei stun Koreans

Chinese Taipei pulled off the biggest upset yet at the World Archery Championships in Gwangju as they stunned serial Olympic gold medallists Korea to reach the recurve women’s team gold medal match.

An San – the women individual top seed – Lim Sihyeon and Kang Chaeyoung broke the team world record from this morning’s qualifications with 2070 that combined all three’s archers’ 72-arrow scores.

That was a remarkable 17-point improvement from the already impressive total held by Korea [2053] – which Hermosillo 2023 World Cup Final champion Chaeyoung was apart of at Antalya 2018 – but they could not follow up that promise against a young, fearless Taipei trio of Chiu Yi-Ching, Hsu Hsin-tzu and Li Cai Xuan that bettered the host nation team in a 10-10-8 to 10-9-8 shoot-off. 

“I’m so emotional and excited right now,” said Madrid 2025 – stage four of the 2025 World Cup – mixed team bronze medallist Yi-Ching shortly after the match. “In this group, we’ve never beaten Korea before so it’s our first time. We had good teamwork and got the result.”

“We believed in ourselves and in our teammates even when we were not in the best condition,” added 17 year old archer Hsin tzu. “We still tried to focus on ourselves and trust each other. I think that’s the key point that made it possible.”

The “condition” Hsin tzu speaks of is not to do with the sodden ground at the Gwangju Archery International Centre – which would’ve left all 277 recurvers present today with wet feet – but the fourth end where Taipei shot a six.

Even just one flailing arrow like this would have capitulated most teams in the eye of Korea, not least against a trio of archers that have all gold medalled in Olympic Games [An San, Chaeyoung in Tokyo 2020, Sihyeon in Paris 2024].

But instead of wilting to the whims of the sport’s most dominant side, Taipei hit two arrows in the 10-ring whilst their opponents faltered in the fourth set, to force and win archery’s sudden death format.

Averaging an age of 19.7 and shooting together for the first time this season, the usual detriments of inexperience may not matter to Yi-Ching, Hsin Tzu and Cai Xuan but stage finals offer a completely challenge in terms of handling nerves, especially at the World Championships.

“What we can do is just try to focus on ourselves, do our best in every single arrow and then see what will happen,” responded Cai Xuan.

SCHEDULE

Recurve mixed team

• Germany (12) versus Japan (10) – Bronze medal match
• Korea (1) versus Spain (3) – Gold medal match

Recurve men

• Brazil (10) versus Japan (4) – Bronze medal match
• Korea (1) versus USA (6) – Gold medal match

Recurve women

• Korea (1) versus India (3) – Bronze medal match
• Chinese Taipei (5)versus Japan (10) – Gold medal match