Taiwan’s compound mixed team won a gold medal at the Archery World Cup in Gwangju, South Korea Saturday, defeating Estonia 148-144 on the international circuit’s second stop.

In the championship round Saturday morning, Huang I-jou (???) and Chen Chieh-lun (???) prevailed against Lisell Jaatma and Robin Jaatma of Estonia.

The compound competition at the Archery World Cup adopts a total points system. Archers in each set shoot a total of four arrows (two for each player). After four sets, the team with the higher total score wins.

The Taiwanese archers returned two 10-point scores in their first two shots, a nine in the third, and a surprising six in their last arrow to trail 35-36 against their opponents at the end of the first set.

However, Huang and Chen were quick to make a comeback, winning the next three sets to end the final with a total score of 148-144.

In light of the see-saw nature of the encounter, the Taiwanese archers told CNA after the game they were thrilled to walk away with gold.

“I was pretty miffed,” Chen said of his six-point score in the first set, adding that he knew it would be a bad shot the moment he noticed a slight problem with his mechanical release.

The archer had thought the shot would go way off-target, but instead, it gave him six points.

“I was rather fortunate,” Chen said, noting that he quickly changed gear and was able to regain his momentum after that.

“Generally speaking, if you get a six-point shot, you have a sense that the odds of taking the set are pretty slim,” he explained, while thanking his partner for the support along the way, in what was the duo’s debut outing.

Huang, meanwhile, complimented Chen for putting up a good performance.

Lin Che-wei (???), Taiwan’s compound archery team coach, said the most important thing he wanted for his archers was to have a good time at the tournament.

Even if there is a sudden hiccup with the equipment, Lin said the archers’ confidence in themselves and ability to quickly regain composure meant it did not have a grave impact on their performance.

It was Taiwan’s first gold medal in the compound mixed team event at the World Archery Cup circuit this year.

The Taiwanese team had won gold in the recurve men’s team event in the first stop on the international circuit in Turkey from April 18 to 24.

The 2022 Archery World Cup is the 16th edition of the international archery circuit organized annually by the World Archery Federation. The World Cup consists of four stops held across different countries, with Antalya, Gwangju, Paris, and Medellin in Colombia the host cities this year. The final stop of this year’s tour, meanwhile, will be in Tlaxcala, Mexico, from Oct. 15 to 16.

Due to budget constraints, Lin said his compound archery team would likely be unable to make an appearance at the third and fourth rounds of the Archery World Cup.

The coach said he was still discussing other options with his archers on the possibility of training abroad or competing in local games for the added experience.

The event in Gwangju will be held until Sunday.

Source : Focus Taiwan News Channel