South Korean dominance at Archery World Cup continues as men's and women's teams reach recurve gold medal final

South Korea enjoyed another superb day at the Archery World Cup in Shanghai as they reached the men's and women's recurve finals ©World Archery

South Korea continued their dominance of the first Archery World Cup event of the season as both their men’s and women’s recurve teams reached the gold medal matches in Shanghai.

The Korean men’s trio of Kim Woo-jin, Ku Bonchan and Oh Jin-Hyek progressed by virtue of a comfortable 5-1 semi-final victory over Indonesia to set up a meeting with Japan in the gold medal contest.

The Japanese side, made up of Ayumi Iwata, Naoya Oniyama and Takaharu Furukawa, ensured they would get the chance to defend their Shanghai title but they were involved in a much closer affair with Spain's Antonio Fernandez, Miguel Angel Piffare and Juan Rodriguez, eventually reaching the final thanks to a 5-3 win.

Japan and South Korea will now do battle for the opening Archery World Cup title of the campaign on Sunday (May 10), while Indonesia and Spain will contest bronze.

The South Korean women were also in excellent form once again as they booked their final berth with a thumping 6-0 success against Japan.

Kang Chae Young, Choi Misun and individual Olympic champion Ki Bo Bae made light work of their opponents with a blistering performance that would be difficult to compete with if they are to replicate it during the gold medal match.

They will go on to face Germany, comprised of Karina Winter and Lisa Unruh, after the duo overcame a lacklustre American side by the same resounding scoreline.

Iran's compound team celebrate reaching the final of the World Cup in Shanghai ©World Archery

South Korea will be hoping to complete the team recurve double when the two nations clash on Sunday.

Elsewhere, world number one women's compound team, Mariia Vinogradova, Svetlana Cherkashneva of Russia, suffered defeat at the semi-final stage as they were beaten by a four-point margin by Malaysia’s Nor Rizah Ishak, Saritha Cham Nong and Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh.

The category was full of surprises as the American team of Crystal Gauvin, Angela Bradley and Lexi Keller overcame a Colombian side which included defending individual Shanghai champion Sara Lopez 224-222.

In the men’s compound competition, Iran’s Yaser Amouei, Majid Gheidi and Esmaeil Ebadi beat India 227-223 in their semi-final, while Danish trio Stephan Hansen, Martin Damsbo and Patrick Laursen cruised to the gold medal match thanks to an 11-point victory over France.

The compound team and individual medals are all due to be decided tomorrow.