India ends Korea's 44-year dominance with historic Asian Games recurve gold

Ankita Bhakat, Kirti Sharma and Kumkum Mohod created history as they defeated world champions Korea to win India's first-ever women's recurve team gold on Friday, October 2.

In Short

• India defeated Korea 5-3 in the final to win gold
• India had previously won two bronze medals in women's recurve
• This was India's fourth gold medal in archery at Asian Games 2026

As the recurve competition at the Asian Games started, no one really gave the Indian women's team of Ankita Bhagat, Kirti Sharma and Kumkum Mohod a big chance of toppling the Korean dominance. Korea are the world champions; they had the World No.3 archer, Kang Chaeyong, in their ranks. It could be claimed that recurve was always their forte and someone disrupting that was near to impossible. But for Ankita, Kumkum and Kirti, the reputation really doesn't matter. They went toe-to-toe with Korea and ended their 44-year dominance in the women's recurve team event with a historic gold.

India defeated Korea 5-3 in the final and made it to the summit clash after breezing past China 5-1 earlier on in the semis as the Indian trio worked in tandem.

Asian Games, October 2 Updates

The journey for all three women to this point has also been fascinating. Take Kumkum for that matter. She started training in recurve just three years ago and started her career by using the traditional method. A bamboo bow.

Kirti was said that she was too thin to hold a recurve bow, one that will test the true strength of an archer. Ankita is a true veteran of the sport and has won a total of 23 international medals.

She was part of the women's recurve team that won bronze in Hangzhou as India had never made it to the final. But that was about to change and these three women were going to stamp their name in history books.

ANKITA, KUMKUM, KIRTI SHINE IN NAGOYA

Right after the semi-final match, the Indian trio never showed signs of panic, even when they were under pressure. The conditions in Nagoya weren't particularly great for archery and the scores were being affected.

But with the entire archery contingent cheering them on, Ankita, Kirti and Kumkum knew they had the chance to create history.

First up, it was China.

There were a few eights and nines during the sets but Ankita, Kumkum and Kirti were always watching out for each other. Whenever it seemed like a 10 was needed, one of them delivered.

During the semi-final, it was Kirti, hitting 10s with the final arrows in the first and second sets to secure the points for India. In the final one, India just needed to level things up and she delivered it to secure the 5-1 win.

Then came the final against mighty Korea. Right from the get-go, the Korean trio of Kang, Lee and Yejin Oh were setting the mark. But India never faltered.

In fact, in the first two sets, Korea set 54 and 56 and India hit the same level to make it 2-2 and put the world champions in uncharted territory.

And the pressure of it all came to the fore in the third set. Korea hit a total of four 8s in their six arrows. Meanwhile, India constantly shuffled their pack, scored 55 to take the lead.

In the fourth set, South Korea posted a score of 54, leaving India needing to match that tally to keep the contest level. Kirti initially registered an 8, but the score was subsequently upgraded to 9 after review. That took India to 54 as well, resulting in a tied set and confirming the gold medal for the Indian team.

There have been many watershed moments in sports recently, especially on the women's side for India. Last time at the Asian Games, the compound archers were the ones who was shinning brightly.

This is a start for the recurve side to show that they can tussle with the best in the world. The golden girls have showed it now. Now the mixed team and the men need to follow up on it.

- Ends