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29 ліпеня 2024, 11:11
S. Korea wins 10th consecutive gold in women's archery team event
PARIS, 29 July (BelTA - Yonhap) - South Korea captured its 10th
consecutive Olympic gold medal in the women's archery team event Sunday
in Paris, extending the winning streak that began in its capital 36
years ago.
The trio of Jeon Hun-young, Nam Su-hyeon and Lim
Si-hyeon defeated China 5-4 in the set score after a nail-biting
shoot-off at Invalides in Paris.
The women's team event in
archery was added to the Olympics in 1988 in Seoul, and South Korea
remained undefeated after holding off China.
South Korea leads all countries in Olympic archery with 28 gold medals and 44 medals overall.
South
Korea survived a scare in the semifinals earlier Sunday, needing a late
rally and then a shoot-off to fend off the Netherlands.
The
final also went to a shoot-off after South Korea blew a 4-0 lead, and
Jeon and Lim each hit a 10 with their last arrows to push South Korea to
the top.
In archery team events, each of the three shooters
takes two arrows per set, for a total of six arrows. A set win is worth
two points, and a tie is good for one point. The first team to reach
five points wins the match.
In case of a tie after four sets, the teams go to a shoot-off, where archers take one shot each to determine the winner.
South
Korea won the first set 56-53, with Jeon hitting 10s with both of her
arrows. South Korea then built a 4-0 lead by winning the next set 55-54,
with Lim hitting a 9 with her last arrow for the narrow set victory.
China
stayed alive by taking the third set 54-51. South Korea needed 29
points with its final three arrows to grab the one point needed to
clinch the gold but settled for 26 points instead.
South Korea
still appeared to be in the driver's seat, but Lim went 8-8 with her two
arrows in the fourth set, allowing China to win it 55-53, and tied the
set score at 4-4. Lim held the final arrow, needing a 10 for the gold,
but went well off the line.
More drama awaited the teams in the
shootout, where arrows by Jeon and Lim were initially scored as 9s as
they hit the line between a 9 and a 10. That left the score momentarily
tied at 27-27, but China would have been declared the winner because one
of its archers, Yang Xiaolei, had hit a 10 while no South Korean
managed a 10.
After the target judge's review, both Jeon and Lim
were awarded 10s, giving South Korea a 29-27 win in the shoot-off and
the legacy-building gold medal.