SHANGHAI, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Li Mengqi claimed a double crown in the recurve men's individual and mixed team events as host nation China collected two gold and two silver medals at the archery World Cup here on Sunday.
The Shanghai leg marked the second stop of this season's World Cup circuit. China returned to home soil after achieving its best-ever result on the circuit at the opening stage in Puebla, Mexico last month, winning three gold, one silver and two bronze medals. Powerhouse South Korea, which swept all five recurve gold medals in Shanghai last year, returned to the circuit after skipping the Puebla event due to national team trials.
Li teamed up with Huang Yuwei to edge South Korea's Oh Ye-jin and five-time Olympic champion Kim Woo-jin 5-3 in the mixed team final on Sunday morning, securing his maiden World Cup title.
The 22-year-old followed this up with a second title several hours later, defeating Tokyo Olympic champion Mete Gazoz of Türkiye 6-4 in the men's individual final to become the first Chinese archer since 2015 to win a men's recurve gold medal at a World Cup event.
"I think overall my performance was very good," Li said. "There were moments when I didn't perform as well as I wanted and there were some small mistakes, but I was able to adjust very quickly. I think that's a really positive thing."
Despite ranking only 16th in qualification, Li upset top seed Tang Chih-chun of Chinese Taipei in the fourth round before beating South Korea's two-time Olympic gold medalist Kim Je-deok to reach the semifinals. He then defeated Berkim Tumer of Turkiye 6-2 to book his place in the final.
Li remained composed when reflecting on his difficult path through the draw.
"Honestly, I didn't pay special attention to my opponents," he said. "I never really thought about who I was going to face or what achievements they had. I believe that if I focus on doing my own job well and win, then it means I performed very well."
In the final, Li raced to a 4-0 lead before Gazoz fought back by taking the next two sets 29-28 to level the match. Both archers shot two 10s in the deciding fifth set, and Gazoz, shooting first, scored a 9 with his final arrow, leaving Li needing a 10 to clinch the title.
Li delivered under pressure, sending the home crowd into raptures after his final shot hit the center of the target. Tumer took the bronze medal.
"I wasn't thinking that I absolutely had to shoot a 30 in the last set," Li said. "I just focused on doing my own job well and executing my shots properly. As long as I didn't make mistakes, I felt that would be enough."
Earlier on Sunday, Zhu Jingyi earned her second silver medal of the day in the women's individual competition after China lost 5-4 to India in a shoot-off in the women's team final.
The emotions, however, were markedly different.
Zhu, who won three gold medals in Puebla, was visibly tearful after the team event, during which she shot four arrows below nine points in the final. The 19-year-old regrouped in the afternoon session, defeating South Korea's Kang Min-hee 6-4 in the semifinals before falling 6-4 to reigning world champion Kang Chae-young, who shot seven 10s from 12 arrows in the final.
"I think I performed much better than I did in the morning," Zhu said. "Overall, I'm relatively satisfied with myself because I managed to make adjustments in time and didn't let the issues from the morning affect my performance in the afternoon. I just tried my best to shoot every arrow well and adjust my mentality."
China team manager Mu Yong said he was "very satisfied" with the squad's overall showing, rating the team's performance 95 out of 100.
"This World Cup featured the youngest team we've ever sent to the competition," Mu told Xinhua. "The average age of the squad was under 20, and even our oldest athlete, Li Mengqi, is only 22 years old. It was essentially a completely new lineup.
"Competing at home, with such enthusiastic crowds, created enormous psychological pressure for the athletes. I'm very satisfied that they were able to withstand that pressure and complete the competition successfully."
Earlier on Sunday, South Korea's Olympic champion trio of Kim Woo-jin, Lee Woo-seok and Kim Je-deok captured the men's team gold medal.
The World Cup circuit will next move to Antalya, Türkiye from June 9 to 14. ■
