Asian Games 2026: How Indian women stunned South Korea to clinch historic recurve archery team gold in Aichi-Nagoya?
Archer Kirti Sharma recounts tense final after breaking South Korea's 44-year domination at Asian Games. The Indian trio of Kirti, Ankita Bhakat and Kumkum Mohod won 5-3 in a hard-fought final.
If there is one thing that stands out during archery events at every Olympics and Asian Games, it is the ice cool - almost machine like - demeanor of Korean and Chinese archers even in the midst of the most extreme pressure situations. However, that vice-like domination of the Chinese and Koreans -- and that machine like efficiency -- was broken by Indian archers at the Asian Games 2026.
The Indian trio of Kirti Sharma, Ankita Bhakat and Kumkum Mohod defeated formidable South Korea 5-3 in a hard-fought final on Friday to win gold and end the 44-year domination of the continental powerhouse at the Asian Games. The Indian troika had earlier outclassed the mighty Chinese 5-1 in the semifinals.
Friday’s triumph capped a memorable Asian Games campaign for India with the compound archers sweeping the men's, women's and mixed team events earlier at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park. Recounting the tense moments during the final, Kirti admitted that mental strength played a crucial role in her success.
Belief was the key for Indian archers
"We were not thinking about our opponents. We were just focused on our own performance and following the process we went through during training," Kirti Sharma told SAI media in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
"All three of us had to control our emotions and believed in each other. We didn't think about the results and just gave our 100 percent," she added. Hailing from Haryana, Kirti admitted that she needed every ounce of the famed Haryanvi fighting spirit during her march to the Asian Games title.
"We knew that our opponents can take the game away if we commit even a small mistake. But we stood strong and maintained the same intensity from the first arrow that we fired to the last one," Kirti said.
Kirti, who trains under coach Udham Singh at the SAI training center in Hazaribagh, informed that the historic exploits of the compound archers motivated her and her teammates ahead of the difficult tryst against China and South Korea.
"Our confidence took a big boost after the compound events. The day we won three consecutive gold medals was a lucky day for India. It motivated us a lot. We wanted to emulate their feat, " she said. "We were raring to go and could hardly wait for our event to start."
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