An San takes maiden World Cup Title in Tlaxcala

An San and Kim Woo-jin have been listed as this year’s best archers in the world. An San won a gold medal from her first world cup on Monday at the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup final against her teammate Choi Mi-sun at the season-ending grand finale in Tlaxcala, Mexico, with set points of 6-4.

After winning three Olympic gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in July last year, An again added two gold medals from the Women’s and Mixed Teams category at the World Archery Championship in Yankton, the U.S. two months later. She held her title as the best archer in the world by winning another gold medal at the World Cup’s final competition this time. Choi Mi-sun, a gold medalist in the women’s team competition at the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics, attended this world cup in six years and won a silver. This is her third medal, following s gold medal in 2015 and a silver in 2016.

In men’s individual games, Kim Woo-jin took the final game against Spain’s Miguel Alvarino Garcia 7-1. It is his fourth World Cup final title, following the ones at the 2012 Tokyo, the 2017 Rome, and the 2018 Sam Sun (Turkey) competitions. The bronze medal went to Mete Gazoz of Turkey, who overcame Kim Je-deok 6-4, who was previously defeated by Kim Woo-jin in the semifinal 1-7.

The season-ending World Cup final is where the winners of the first to fourth games and top tiers archers compete with each other. This time, the game was crucial, as the biannual World Archery Championship is not held this year, and Asian Games, scheduled to be held in Hangzhou, China, has been delayed to next year.


Bae-Jung Kim wanted@donga.com