The third Asia Cup of 2023 sees archers from across the continent head to the Bukit Gombak Stadium in Singapore and world ranking points, now so crucial for Olympic qualification, are up for grabs. With selections for the Hyundai World Archery Championships settling, this is the time to make an impact.
All the major Asian archery nations – bar Japan – are represented, with 27 countries sending teams or individuals, with the less-often-seen archery Jordan, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan competing as well.
Korea, the dominant Asian archery nation, are sending a set of youthful recurve names we’ve not seen internationally before – the youngest, Bae Chanwoo, is just 16. The recurve rookies are accompanied by full-strength senior compound teams including veterans such as 2017 World Archery Champion Song Yun Soo.
India took a clean sweep of both the men’s and women’s individual recurve podiums at the last leg in Tashkent. With the top Korean compounds in the mix in Singapore, that will be a much more difficult task this time around.
Two now-veteran archers from Iraq, sisters Fatimah Almashhadani and Rand Saad Almashhadani are also in competition this week. Rand, shooting recurve, got a wildcard to the London 2012 Olympic Games and had a match against eventual winner Ki Bo Bae, while Fatimah made an extraordinary impact on the compound field at the Archery World Cup stage in Antalya in 2014 where she took a silver medal, aged just 16.