▲ Kim Woo-jin of South Korea shoots his arrow during the quarterfinals of the men's individual archery event at the Tokyo Olympics at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo on July 31, 2021. (Yonhap)
▲ Kim Woo-jin of South Korea (L) reacts to his loss to Tang Chih-Chun of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals of the men's individual archery event at the Tokyo Olympics at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo on July 31, 2021. (Yonhap)
▲ Kim Woo-jin of South Korea reacts to his loss to Tang Chih-Chun of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals of the men's individual archery event at the Tokyo Olympics at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo on July 31, 2021. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) (Olympics) archer-loss

(LEAD) (Olympics) Archer Kim Woo-jin eliminated in men's individual event, S. Korean sweep bid foiled

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By Yoo Jee-ho

TOKYO, July 31 (Yonhap) -- Kim Woo-jin was knocked out in the men's individual archery event at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, unable to help South Korea complete a clean sweep of gold medals in Japan.

Kim lost to Tang Chih-Chun of Chinese Taipei by the set score of 6-4 in the quarterfinals at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo. He was the last South Korean man left standing in the individual competition, with Oh Jin-hyek and Kim Je-deok long gone from the picture.

In the individual match, archers each shoot three arrows per set. A set win is worth two points, and a tie is good for one point. The first to reach six points is the winner. But if two archers are tied after five sets, they go to a shoot-off, with the higher score or the arrow closer to 10 earning the victory.

Kim and Tang both shot 28 in the first set, and Tang took the lead by beating Kim 29-27 in the next set.

Kim pulled even at 3-3 by winning the next set. Then the two archers put up a 28 each, and they were tied 4-4 going into the final set in regulation.

Kim blinked first, shooting an 8 with his first arrow of the fifth set. Tang positioned himself for an upset win with a 10. Kim bounced back with a 9, but Tang shot another 10.

Kim closed out with a 10, but Tang only needed an 8 to beat the South Korean. Tang looked wobbly for a moment but hit an 8 for a 28-27 set win and a 6-4 match victory.

"I just didn't shoot as well as I should have," Kim said. "And it's nobody's fault but mine. I am the one who shot those arrows, not anyone else."

Prior to Saturday, South Korea had won all four archery gold medals at stake: the mixed team, women's team and individual, and men's team.

With the mixed team event making its Olympic debut here, this was the first opportunity for South Korea to win an unprecedented five archery gold medals at a single Olympics.

South Korea, the most dominant archery power in Olympic history, swept up four gold medals at the 2016 Olympics.

South Korea has won 27 gold medals in archery, more than all other nations combined since the start of the modern competition in 1972.

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