S. Korea, U.S. steal the show at archery meet

S. Korea, U.S. steal the show at archery meet

JAKARTA (JP): South Korea and the United States shared the
limelight in the first day of the 38th World Archery
Championships when they topped the qualifying round standings in
recurve and compound events.

South Korea paraded new faces but managed to live up to the
country's billing as an archery powerhouse. The South Korean male
and female athletes dominated the qualifying round in the recurve
competition, the only archery division accepted as an Olympic
event.

It was an American show in the compound event, the newest
category since the world archery championships began in 1931. The
United States has its sights set to sweep all four golds offered
in this new division when its male and female archers took
command in both the individual and team competitions.

All archers will complete the qualifying round today. Only 64
athletes and 16 teams are eligible for the medal race tomorrow.
Those who finish first in the qualifying round will earn top
seeds and will start tomorrow's elimination round against their
bottom-placed qualifiers.

The trio of Youm Youn-ja, Kim Jo-sun and Hwang Jin-hae opened
South Korea's flawless stride. They finished first, second and
third respectively after two compulsory disciplines yesterday.
They also totaled 1,969 to open up a 24-point gap with second-
placed Turkey.

Indonesian women's team which upset South Korea in the Asian
Games last year got off to a shaky start as it collected just
1,860 points placing it 13th among 25 teams.

In the men's category, South Korea's Oh Kyo-moon, Kim Jae-rak
and Lee Kyung-chul produced another clean sweep after shooting
from 90m and 70m.

Scoring 1,976 points, they left the U.S. trailing in second
place by 51 points. The U.S.' three-time world champion Richard
McKinney and Korean Lee both scored 342 from 70m, two points
short of the world record established by Japan's Hiroshi Yamamoto
in 1990.

A total of eight gold medals are up for grabs in the Aug. 1-6
world archery meet being held here for the first time. The
overall champion will bring home the President Soeharto's Cup.

The trophy was given to the world archery body during the
opening ceremony on Tuesday, marking the formal acceptance of a
Cup to substitute the original trophy which went missing during
World War II.

Compound

The compound event was dominated by Americans Gary Broadhead
and John Vozzy, sharing the men's individual leadership after
finishing the 90m and 70m distances with a total score of 656.

Their teammate Tom Crowe managed only 647, but it was enough
to put the Americans on course to win the team gold medal. The
U.S. team topped the 22-field list with 1,959.

Canada trailed in a distance second after Hermel Volde, Brian
Bagnall and Jean-Claude Lacerte orchestrated a total score of
1,926.

The American female archers followed in the footsteps of their
male teammates. Michelle Ragsdale and Inga Low scored 656 and 654
after shooting from 70m and 60m to place first and third.

Ragsdale scored 334 from 60m to equal the world record set by
Canadian Lilian Jarvis two years ago.

"I believe our team excel at the compound division because we
have more experience in that division than the other countries
do," Michel King, head coach of the U.S. team, told The Jakarta
Post yesterday. King added that the compound division is an
American invention dating back to about 1968.

"It's also easier to get high scores with compound bows than
the traditional ones which need more physical work," he said.

"The compound bow appears to be more complex and better
technologically, and I think that's the reason why more than 80
percent of our archers shoot compound," King added.

South Korea, poised to maintain its Olympic archery gold
medals, is not taking part in the compound event. "We have been
traditionally playing recurve archery. It's far more difficult
than the compound, but we like the challenge," South Korean head
coach Lee Ki-sik said. (arf/amd)