Kang Yeon-seo, a rising star in South Korean compound archery, won a bronze medal in the individual event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
Kang beat Park Jung-yoon of Changwon City Hall 145-143 in the compound women's individual bronze medal match on the 1st at the multipurpose plaza of Okazaki Central Park in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
Having claimed bronze in the women's team event a day earlier, Kang finished third in the individual competition to collect her second bronze of the Games.
Kang, born in 2011, shot perfect scores of 150 in both the round of 32 and the round of 16, then beat Wu Nier of China 145-141 in the quarterfinals to reach the semifinals. But she fell 143-147 to Nurisa Dian Ashyrifa of Indonesia, ending her bid for the final. Park lost her semifinal 141-142 to Amaya Amparo Cojuangco of the Philippines, setting up the bronze medal match against Kang.
Kang came out on top in that meeting with her senior national teammate. She opened with a perfect 30 in the first end to lead Park by a point.
She stretched the margin in the second end, winning it 29-28. In the third end, she hit two consecutive 10s before her final arrow landed in the nine ring, allowing Park, who shot a perfect 30, to close within a point.
But Kang shot 28 in the fourth end against Park's 27 to widen the gap, then held her lead through the fifth end to seal the win.
South Korea's women's compound team had aimed for its first individual gold since the 2014 Incheon Games, when Choi Bo-min won the title, but missed that target as both Kang and Park were eliminated in the semifinals. It is the first time no South Korean has reached the final of the women's compound individual event since the discipline was added at the 2014 Incheon Games. At those Games, Choi Bo-min and Seok Ji-hyun met in the women's individual final and took gold and silver respectively, and So Chae-won won silver at the 2023 Hangzhou Games. The individual event was not held at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.
The women's compound squad closed out the Games with one silver, in the mixed team event, and two bronzes, in the women's team and women's individual events.
