An San of South Korea (R) consoles teammate Lim Si-hyeon (L) as Kang Chae-young looks on, after South Korea won bronze in the recurve women’s team event at the World Archery Championships at the May 18 Democracy Plaza in Gwangju, 270 kilometers south of Seoul, on Sept. 10, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
GWANGJU, Sept. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — For only the third time since its World Archery Championships debut in 1977, South Korea failed to qualify for the recurve women’s team final this week. That it happened on home soil, with the southwestern city of Gwangju hosting this year’s competition, only added to the disappointment for the trio of An San, Kang Chae-young and Lim Si-hyeon.
They defeated India’s Ankita Bhakat, Gatha Anandrao Khadake and Deepika Kumari 5-3 (54-51, 57-57, 54-57, 58-56) in the bronze medal contest at the May 18 Democracy Plaza on Wednesday, a day after losing to Chinese Taipei in the semifinals in a shoot-off.
In recurve team events, each archer takes two arrows per set, for a total of six arrows and a maximum score of 60 points per set for each team. Teams earn two points for a set win and one point for a tie. The first team to reach five points is the winner.
An, a Gwangju native and a goodwill ambassador for the competition, said she and her teammates did their best under the circumstances.
“We didn’t finish until about 7 p.m. last night and we’ve not had much time to recover in between,” said An, who also settled for silver in the mixed team event with Kim Woo-jin earlier Wednesday. “So I think this has been a difficult event physically for us. It was disappointing to lose in the shoot-off in the semifinals, but I think we were able to bear down and get the bronze medal in the end.”
Lim, who won three gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, three years after An had done the same in Tokyo, was reduced to tears after Wednesday’s match.
“After we lost in the semifinals, the best we could do was to win this bronze, and I really wanted this medal,” Lim said. “I’m honored to have won this with my two teammates here.”
Kang, who won the 2021 Olympic women’s team gold medal with An, said she was also proud to be on the same team with An and Lim.
“They are such reliable teammates and I think we can strike fear into other teams with our abilities,” Kang added.
All three will be back in the individual events, with the early elimination matches set for Thursday morning and matches beyond the round of 16 scheduled for Friday.
“The biggest goal is for all three of us to reach the podium,” Kang said. “I hope all of us can compete hard and have no regrets at the end.”
(Yonhap)
