《TAIPEI TIMES》 Taiwanese archers bag gold medal on World Cup circuit

/ Staff writer, with CNA, GWANGJU, South Korea

Taiwan’s compound mixed team yesterday won a gold medal at the Archery World Cup stage 2 event in Gwangju, South Korea, defeating Estonia 148-144.

請繼續往下閱讀...

Huang I-jou and Chen Chieh-lun beat Lisell Jaatma and Robin Jaatma of Estonia in the championship match in the morning, after recovering from a first-set loss.

The Taiwanese archers scored two 10-point shots, followed by a nine and a six to trail 35-36 at the end of the first set. Each archer shoots two arrows per set over four sets.

However, Huang and Chen made a quick comeback in their debut outing, winning the next three sets to end the final 148-144.

“I was pretty miffed,” Chen said of his final shot in the first set, adding that he knew it would be poor after noticing a problem with his mechanical release.

He said he thought the shot would go way off target, but instead, it gave him six points.

“I was rather fortunate,” Chen said, adding that he was able to quickly regain his momentum after the setback.

“Generally speaking, if you get a six-point shot, you have a sense that the odds of taking the set are pretty slim,” he said.

Their coach, Lin Che-wei, said that it was most important for the archers to have a good time at the tournament.

The archers’ confidence and ability to regain their composure meant that the hiccup with their equipment did not have a major effect on their performance, Lin said.

The win was Taiwan’s first in the compound mixed team event on the World Archery Cup circuit this year.

The team won gold in the recurve men’s team event in the first stop on the international circuit in Turkey last month.

After the Gwangju stage, which ends today, the World Cup heads to Paris from June 21 to 26 and then Medellin, Colombia, from July 18 to 24, before the final in Tlaxcala, Mexico, from Oct. 15 to 16.

Due to budget constraints, Lin said the compound archery team would likely be unable to compete in the third and fourth rounds of the World Cup.

He said he was discussing other options with his archers, either the possibility of training abroad or focusing on local events.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES