Choi Yong-hee Unsmiling Despite Silver: "Couldn't Show What We Prepared"

Although he wore a silver medal around his neck, veteran compound archer Choi Yong-hee (Hyundai Steel) could not fully rejoice.

This was because the South Korean compound archery team failed to win a medal in the men's team event, marking the first time in Asian Games history that South Korea missed out on a team event medal in the discipline.

On September 30, Choi partnered with Park Jeong-yoon (Changwon City Hall) to secure a silver medal in the compound mixed team event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Ground in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

However, in the men's team event alongside Kim Jong-ho (Hyundai Steel) and Choi Eun-gyu (Ulsan Nam-gu Office), the team lost 229-236 to India in the semifinals and was defeated 233-234 by Chinese Taipei in the bronze medal match, finishing in fourth place.

This is the first time South Korea has failed to win a medal in a team event since compound archery became an official sport at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.

The men's national team's streak of podium finishes came to an end, following a silver medal at the Incheon Games, a gold medal at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, and a silver medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.

Meeting reporters after the match, Choi expressed his regret while sending words of encouragement to his younger teammates who shot alongside him.

He said, "I am very disappointed because I feel like we could not show as much as we prepared. My teammates must be very upset, but I want to encourage them by saying they did a really good job."

Choi, who hit all eight arrows in the 10-ring during the mixed team semifinals, expressed regret over his final arrow in the final.

South Korea tied 157-157 with India before entering a shoot-off.

While Park Jeong-yoon shot a 10, Choi recorded a 9, resulting in a 19-20 defeat to India, whose archers both hit 10s.

Choi said, "If I had just shot according to my usual condition, it would have been a 10, but because I was nervous and shaking, I shot a 9. I am quite disappointed and upset because the gold medal was right in front of us and we missed it. I also want to say thank you to athlete Park Jeong-yoon."

Chung Euisun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group who also serves as the President of the Korea Archery Association and presented the medals that day, visited the national team after the match and encouraged them, saying, "You all worked hard. Let's do our absolute best in the remaining matches until the end."

At the gathering, Kim Woo-jin (Cheongju City Hall) of the recurve men's national team vowed to "get revenge" against Chinese Taipei.

Together with Kim Je-deok (Yecheon County Office) and Lee Woo-seok (Kolon), Kim Woo-jin will challenge for a spot in the finals against Chinese Taipei in the men's team semifinals on October 2.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.