Oh takes silver in recurve individual after shoot-off defeat

Oh Ye-jin walks off after the medal ceremony for the women's recurve individual archery event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at the Okazaki Central General Park multipurpose plaza in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on Saturday. [Yonhap]
Oh Ye-jin walks off after the medal ceremony for the women's recurve individual archery event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at the Okazaki Central General Park multipurpose plaza in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on Saturday. [Yonhap]

Oh Ye-jin lost the gold medal to India's 17-year-old prodigy in the women's recurve individual archery final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Saturday, falling short after a tense shoot-off.

Oh, 23, of the Gwangju Bank archery team, tied Indian teenager Kumkum Anil Mohod 5-5 on set points (29-27, 29-29, 29-30, 28-27, 28-30) in the final at the Okazaki Central General Park multipurpose plaza in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, before losing in the shoot-off.

The match came down to a single arrow. Oh shot first and hit an 8, while Mohod struck the dead center of the target for a 10, clinching the gold medal on the spot.

Oh finished the Games with two silver medals, adding the individual silver to the one she earned earlier in the women's recurve team event, where South Korea also fell to India. It marked the first time in history that South Korea's women's archery team failed to win a gold medal in the recurve discipline at the Asian Games.

In a striking coincidence, Mohod was the athlete who stood in South Korea's way in both events. She swept the team and individual titles to claim a double gold at the Games.

Oh had the better of the early exchanges in the individual final. In the first set, she opened with a 9 before hitting back-to-back 10s to post 29 points. Mohod, despite opening with a 10, stumbled with a 9 and an 8 to finish with 27, and Oh took the set 29-27 to lead 2-0 on set points.

The second set ended in a 29-29 draw, with the points split, leaving Oh ahead 3-1.

The momentum shifted in the third set, however, when Mohod hit three consecutive 10s for a perfect score of 30. Oh responded with two 10s of her own but could only manage a 9 on her final arrow, surrendering the set and leveling the score at 3-3.

Oh regrouped in the fourth set, shooting 9-10-9 for 28 points while Mohod faltered with an 8 and a 9 to finish with 27. Oh moved back in front 5-3, one set away from gold.

But Mohod produced another perfect set in the fifth, and Oh's 9-9-10 effort of 28 points was not enough to clinch it. The score was level at 5-5, forcing a shoot-off.

In the end, a single arrow in the shoot-off decided it all, and the gold went to Mohod.


betterj@heraldcorp.com