Kim Jong-ho Wins Korea’s First Archery Gold at Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games
Kim Jong-ho defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chang Cheng-Wei 149-145 in the men’s individual compound final, becoming the first South Korean winner of the event at the Asian Games.
South Korea’s Kim Jong-ho won the men’s individual compound archery title at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Thursday, securing his country’s first archery gold medal of the competition.
Kim defeated Chang Cheng-Wei of Chinese Taipei 149-145 in the final at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square in Okazaki, about 50 kilometers southeast of Nagoya, the main host city. His score left him only one point short of a perfect round.
The individual compound format gives each archer 15 arrows, divided into five ends of three arrows. Scores are added across all five ends, and 150 points is the maximum possible total. Kim’s 149 therefore represented near-perfect shooting under the pressure of an Asian Games gold-medal match. Chang also produced a strong final but finished four points behind the South Korean.
The victory made Kim the first South Korean to win the men’s individual compound event at the Asian Games. The discipline had previously appeared at the 2014 and 2023 editions, but no Korean man had taken the individual title before Thursday.
Kim entered the final with an established record in Asian Games team competition. He helped South Korea win the men’s team gold and mixed team silver in 2018, then added a men’s team silver at the 2023 Games. The individual championship gives him a new category of continental success and adds a historic first for the national archery program.
The result also reversed the outcome of another Korea–Chinese Taipei contest one day earlier. Chinese Taipei had beaten South Korea in the bronze-medal match of the men’s compound team event. Kim responded in the individual final by defeating Chang and claiming the top prize.
Across two days of compound archery, South Korea collected one gold, one silver and two bronze medals. Kim’s title accounted for the gold and established the country’s first archery champion of these Games.
The archery schedule will now move to recurve, the bow style in which South Korea has traditionally been a major international force. Recurve team events are set for Friday, followed by the individual events on Saturday. Those competitions will give the Korean delegation further opportunities to add to the four medals already earned in compound.