India Aims to Challenge South Korea’s Archery Dominance at Asian Games
India’s archery team, led by World Champion Ojas Pravin Deotale, seeks to compete with South Korea in the Asian Games men’s archery competition.
India is gearing up for the Asian Games men’s archery competition, scheduled from October 1 to October 7, with hopes of challenging the archery powerhouse, South Korea. Led by the reigning World Champion, Ojas Pravin Deotale, India aims to make its mark at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
South Korea is considered the favorite in archery at the Hangzhou Asian Games, but India’s rising prowess in the sport suggests they could potentially upset the dominant South Korean team.
The competition will feature six gold medals, divided into two disciplines: recurve and compound archery, each having individual, team, and mixed team categories. India is expected to perform strongly in the compound archery section for both men and women. Alongside Ojas Pravin Deotale, the team includes the reigning World Champion Aditi Gopichand Swamy and Jyothi Surekha Vennam.
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Recurve archery is a modern adaptation of traditional bows and is an Olympic sport. The Hangzhou Asian Games serves as a qualifier for the Paris Olympics 2024 , with six quota places at stake (three for men and three for women). On the other hand, compound archery, which employs more advanced equipment including magnifying lenses and cables, is not currently an Olympic event. However, World Archery has announced plans to introduce compound archery at the Olympics in the future.
At the Jakarta-Palembang 2018 Asian Games, South Korea dominated the recurve archery category, winning gold and silver in the individual event. Nevertheless, at the 2023 World Archery Championships, South Korea did not secure a podium finish in either individual discipline, as Ojas Pravin Deotale claimed gold in the individual compound archery event.
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In the Asia compound archery rankings, Indian archers, including the 21-year-old sensation Deotale, occupy the top three positions. In contrast, South Korean archers dominate the top three spots in the Asia recurve archery rankings.
Kim Woojin, a 31-year-old recurve archery champion with two Olympic gold medals (Tokyo 2020 and Rio 2016), is a key contender aiming for his third Asian Games individual title.