South Korea's EMC archers aim to reclaim Asian Games throne from India

Mixed and men's, women's team events begin Wednesday

Both squads face India — Hangzhou's five-gold sweep winners — in semifinals

All four Korean individual archers advance to quarterfinals

Kang Yeon-seo (left) and Park Jeong-yun of South Korea celebrate after advancing to the quarterfinals of the women's EMC individual event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at the Okazaki Central General Park multipurpose plaza in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on Monday. [Yonhap]

South Korea's archery team, the world's dominant force in the sport, opens its gold-medal campaign at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Wednesday — and the EMC squad, which surrendered its throne to India at the previous Games, leads the charge.

The men's and women's EMC team semifinals and finals, along with the mixed team event, are scheduled Wednesday at the multipurpose plaza of Okazaki Central General Park in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

South Korea has set its sights on sweeping all five EMC gold medals on offer at these Games — a tall order given that India claimed all five at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games.

The balance of power in EMC archery has shifted sharply over the past two Asian Games cycles. At the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, three EMC events were held — men's team, women's team and mixed team — and South Korea won gold in both team events. In the mixed team, the Koreans fell to Taiwan by a single point and settled for silver.

The Hangzhou Games added men's and women's individual events, bringing the total EMC gold medals to five. India swept all five — the individual and team titles for both genders plus the mixed team — to establish itself as the sport's new powerhouse. South Korea is determined to restore its standing in EMC archery at these Games.

The rivalry resumes from the opening day. The men's squad of Choi Yong-hee, Choi Eun-gyu and Kim Jong-ho, and the women's squad of Kang Yeon-seo, Park Jeong-yun and Park Ye-rin both face India in their respective semifinals. Victory would send each team into a gold-medal match against the winner of the China-Taiwan semifinal.

In the mixed team event, Choi Yong-hee and Park Jeong-yun take on China in the semifinals. If they advance, they will meet the winner of the India-Thailand match in the final.

Choi Yong-hee (from left), Choi Eun-gyu and Kim Jong-ho of South Korea walk toward the target to check their arrows after defeating Iran in the men's EMC team quarterfinals at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at the Okazaki Central General Park multipurpose plaza in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on Sunday. [Yonhap]

South Korea has made a strong start to the competition. Choi Yong-hee and Park Jeong-yun shot a perfect 160 — hitting all 16 arrows in the 10-ring — against Japan in the mixed team round of 16. The men's team then set an Asian Games record with 239 out of a possible 240 points against Iran in the quarterfinals.

All four Korean individual archers have also reached the quarterfinals: Choi Yong-hee and Kim Jong-ho in the men's draw, and Kang Yeon-seo and Park Jeong-yun in the women's. With the Korean archers placed on opposite sides of the bracket in both draws, a Korean sweep of gold and silver is guaranteed if both reach their respective finals.

EMC archery uses a mechanically assisted bow fitted with pulleys and a sight to shoot at a target 50 meters away, compared with the 70-meter distance used in recurve. The EMC mixed team event will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

After Wednesday's three team events, the EMC men's and women's individual quarterfinals through finals follow Thursday. South Korea will first pursue its goal of a five-gold EMC sweep before turning its attention to the recurve events.

yjc@heraldcorp.com