Kumkum Mohod, 17, wins India’s first Asian Games women’s recurve individual gold with a perfect shoot-off arrow
Down in the final against South Korea's Oh Yejin, the teenager won the last set 30 and then shot a 10 in the shoot-off. She goes home with two golds and a silver.
Seventeen-year-old Kumkum Mohod became the first Indian woman to win an individual recurve archery medal at the Asian Games. She did it by winning gold.
In Saturday’s final she beat South Korea’s Oh Yejin in a shoot-off after the match finished level at 5-5. Kumkum scored a 10 with her deciding arrow and Oh scored an 8.
The comeback
Kumkum trailed for most of the final. Oh took the first set 29-27 and shared the second 29-29. Kumkum shot three 10s to win the third set 30-29, lost the fourth 28-27, and then shot three more 10s in the fifth to force the shoot-off.
Beating a South Korean archer in a final is one of the hardest tasks in the sport. South Korea have dominated women’s recurve archery at the Olympics for decades.
Three medals in one Games
- Women’s individual recurve: gold.
- Women’s recurve team: gold with Ankita Bhakat and Kirti Sharma, beating South Korea 5-3.
- Mixed team recurve: silver with Dhiraj Bommadevara, losing to China 3-5.
Her individual win also earned India a quota place in women’s individual recurve archery for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. Before this, India’s only individual recurve medal at the Asian Games was Tarundeep Rai’s men’s silver at Guangzhou in 2010.
Sources: DNA India, Open, India Sports Hub.
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