SPORTS
Archery - Korean Ki wins gold in final shoot-off
Baku, August 3 (AZERTAC). South Korean Ki Bo-bae triumphed in a nerve-wracking single arrow shoot-off against Mexican Aida Roman to win the women`s individual archery gold medal at the London Games on Thursday.Ki, who also won a team gold earlier in the week, continued South Korea`s remarkable dominance of Olympic archery, giving the country a 14th women`s gold medal out of a possible 15 since the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
It is unlikely any of those previous Korean gold medal winners were put under as much pressure as the 24-year-old Ki on Thursday.
With the scores tied after five sets, Ki and Roman had one extra arrow to decide the fate of the gold.
Top-ranked Ki brought gasps from the crowd when she leaked her shot outside the bulls-eye for an eight, leaving Roman with the task of finding a nine or a 10 to win.
The Mexican loosed her arrow to the target 70 meters away, and could scarcely believe it when she too landed in the red rings for an eight. When officials confirmed Ki`s arrow was closer to the centre of the target, the South Koreans erupted in celebration.
"Actually I didn`t see Aida`s arrow because I was praying so hard," said Ki, failing to stop her voice from cracking at a media conference.
Ki has struggled for consistency over the last 18 months and said her joy was tempered by the fact her team mates, Lee Sung-jin and Choi Hyeon-ju, failed to win a medal.