Published: October 3, 2026 at 4:59 pm
In a fascinating contest which went to the wire, 17-year-old Kumkum Mohod pulled off an incredible victory over her Korean rival to win the individual gold medal in the women’s recurve archery event at the Asian Games 2026 on Saturday. She also secured a Los Angeles 2028 Olympics quota for India in the event.
The teenager defeated the Republic of Korea’s Oh Yejin in a shoot-off after the gold-medal contest finished level at 5-5 at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square in Aichi. Oh Yejin shot an eight in the shoot-off before Kumkum responded with a 10 to take the title.
Kumkum became the first Indian to win an individual recurve archery gold at the Asian Games. Tarundeep Rai, who won silver at Guangzhou 2010, was previously the only Indian to medal in an individual recurve event.
I had faith in myself, says Kumkum
As the Indian flag rose and national anthem played after her victory, tears rolled down Kumkum’s face, the enormity of what she had achieved finally sinking in.
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“I had faith in myself. The team supported me with a positive mindset,” Kumkum said after her win. “When I won the gold medal (in the women’s team event) for the first time, I didn’t think about anything else. I just wanted to win. My target was to chase the gold medal. When I started improving, I started dreaming big.”
Kumkum caps fine campaign with 3 medals
Kumkum capped her campaign at Aichi-Nagoya with three medals, having also helped India win the women’s recurve team gold and combined with Dhiraj Bommadevara for mixed team silver on Friday.
By reaching the individual final, Kumkum also helped India obtain a women’s recurve quota for LA 2028. The finalists in both the men’s and women’s individual recurve events at Aichi-Nagoya obtain one quota place each for their respective countries.
Kumkum had beaten South Korea’s reigning world champion and Olympic medallist Kang Chaeyoung 6-3 in the quarterfinals before overcoming the People’s Republic of China’s Zhu Jingyi 6-2 in the semifinals.
Indian women script history, help win country’s maiden recurve gold at the Asian Games
In the final, Oh Yejin won the opening set 29-27 before the second was shared 29-29. Kumkum responded with a perfect 30 to take the third but trailed 5-3 after losing the fourth. Needing to win the fifth to stay in contention, Kumkum shot another perfect 30 to force the shoot-off before sealing gold with a 10.
India miss two quota places
India, however, missed the two men’s individual recurve quota places after Dhiraj Bommadevara and Neeraj Chauhan both lost in the semifinals.
World No. 1 Dhiraj Bommadevaraj, who had topped the qualification round, lost 7-3 to South Korea’s Lee Wooseok, while Neeraj Chauhan went down 7-1 against Japan’s Junya Nakanishi.
Neeraj Chauhan defeated Dhiraj Bommadevaraj to win the bronze medal. Pics: X
Dhiraj and Neeraj subsequently faced each other in the bronze-medal contest, with Neeraj clinching the medal after holding his nerve in the fifth set.
With Dhiraj having opened his final rotation with an eight, Neeraj responded with a 10 and maintained his one-point advantage heading into the final arrow. Dhiraj finished with a 10, but Neeraj matched it to seal the bronze.
Dhiraj had beaten Uzbekistan’s Amirkhon Sadikov 6-2 in the quarterfinals, while Neeraj defeated Bhutan’s Lam Dorji 7-1.
India have best-ever Asian Games haul
India ended Aichi-Nagoya 2026 with medals in all five recurve events, two golds, two silvers and a bronze, for their best-ever Asian Games campaign in the discipline.
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Indian archers finished with nine medals from the 10 events overall, five gold, two silver and two bronze, matching their record medal haul from Hangzhou 2023.
Compound archers had won three team gold medals and one individual bronze earlier in the Games, with the women’s individual event the only archery competition in which India did not make the podium.
