(Asiad) Archery champions say focus on process, not results, keeps team tight

OKAZAKI, Japan, Oct. 2 (Yonhap) -- They have done it again. The South Korean men's recurve archery team of Lee Woo-seok, Kim Je-deok and Kim Woo-jin won the Asian Games gold medal in central Japan on Friday, their fourth major international title together after the 2023 and 2025 world championships, and the 2024 Olympic gold medal.

Given the considerable depth of archery talent in South Korea, it is unusual for the same three members to stick together as a team for that long, let alone keep winning medals.

After South Korea defeated India 5-1 in the set score for the gold at the Aichi-Nagoya Asiad, Lee said the secret lies in all three archers' ability to stay locked in on the process.

"I think we have the exact same objective. We always try not to get caught up in results," Lee said at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square in Okazaki, some 50 kilometers southeast of the main host city, Nagoya. "We always remind each other at competitions that we have to keep thinking about the process. We all have had experiences where if we started thinking too much about results, then our bodies stiffened and we ended up performing poorly. So we try to remember what got us here in the first place."

The three men exude easy chemistry. Kim Woo-jin, the senior member at 34, is supposedly the wily veteran but hardly takes himself seriously, always willing to trade barbs with his two younger teammates.

Kim Je-deok, the youngest at 22, often has the loudest and most exuberant celebrations in victories. Lee, 29, is the serious type who offers thoughtful answers.

Lee and Kim Je-deok won the 2023 Asian Games team gold medal with a different third member, Oh Jin-hyek. Kim Woo-jin's previous Asiad team title came in 2010.

"I didn't mean it to be this way, but it took me 16 years to win my second Asian Games gold medal," Kim Woo-jin said with a wry smile. "I only have these two gold medals after 16 years. I have to try harder."

Lee said he would love to keep the band together for an extended run, adding, "I would love to win three, four or even five gold medals in a row with these guys."

Kim Je-deok, who burst onto the scene by winning the mixed team gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics as a teenager, said he still feels honored to be around his two teammates, even after all these years.

"I grew up idolizing Woo-jin, and Woo-seok is like my big brother. It is an honor to be on the same team with them," he said. "I am so proud to have won this gold medal with them. I am very grateful."

Kim Woo-jin credited Je-deok for helping him and Lee make quick adjustments to the blustery conditions at the Okazaki range Friday. Kim Je-deok had participated in the mixed team event prior to the men's competition Friday, winning bronze medal with Kang Chae-young while struggling in the wind.

"He had some trouble in those conditions, but he gave us valuable information on the wind," Kim Woo-jin said. "This is perhaps one of the three toughest venues I have ever competed at, in terms of how difficult it was to read the wind. But thanks to Je-deok, we were able to minimize our mistakes. He was a huge part of our victory today."

The South Korean men prevented India from sweeping the men's and women's recurve team titles here, after India won three team gold medals in compound earlier in the week. While India's dominance in compound is hardly new, the country is also trying to assert itself in recurve, where South Korea has long been an international force.

Asked if South Korea should feel threatened by India's emergence, Lee said: "Whenever we are in team events, we don't really get conscious of other teams. We just want to do our thing, and if the other team does well, then so be it."

Kim Woo-jin agreed.

"Our main goal is to stick to our own performance," he said. "Of course, archers from other countries are improving, but we are also trying to get better. The gap may be narrowing, but we are also trying to take steps forward, however small they may be."