China Targets One Gold in Archery in Asian Games

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, October 08, 2002

China Targets One Gold in Archery in Asian Games

Chinese archers targeted one gold out of four on offer at the Asian Games, said their South Korean coach Yang Chang-hun here on Monday.

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Chinese archers targeted one gold out of four on offer at the Asian Games, said their South Korean coach Yang Chang-hun here on Monday.

Yang, who took the helm of the Chinese archery team at the end of last year, said he expected the Chinese women to win a gold and Chinese men to take a bronze in the South Korea-dominated field.

"This is my expectation, I haven't talked about it with my archers. But they have already set their eyes on the title," Yang said.

Yang, now 32, had been a great archer himself and won his first gold medal in the Asian Games at the age of 16. After retirement, Yang turned to coach and made a series of achievements, in which his stay in Australia deserves a special mention.

During the 1999-2000 season, Yang worked with the Australian team and helped Simon Fareweather win the men's individual title at the Sydney Olympic Games, the first ever gold from the sport in Olympics for the country.

"My job is to help the Chinese archers improve their skills and boost their confidence against the all-conquering South Koreans," he said.

South Korea had swept all the titles on offer for the past three Asiads and collected three out of four golds at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

Spearheaded by Zhang Juanjuan, who claimed victories at the 2002 Euro Grand Prix of Nations and the 2001 Asian Archery Championships, China crowned for the first time in the women's team competition at the 2001 World Archery Championships.

"I am a Korean. I told my Chinese archers many times that the Koreans were not invincible. We have the wish and chance to win in the Asian Games," Yang said.

China placed second in the women's team qualifying round and third in the men's while pace-setters were all under the names of South Korea.

"It is no doubt that I expect a gold in the individual competition," said the 18-year-old Yuan.

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