India’s women’s recurve archery team relied on mental composure, teamwork and trust in their training process to defeat South Korea 5-3 in the Asian Games 2026 final, according to archer Kirti Sharma.
Kirti teamed up with Ankita Bhakat and Kumkum Mohod as India secured the historic gold medal on Friday, ending South Korea’s 44-year dominance in the event.
Speaking to SAI media in Japan, Kirti said the Indian team remained focused on its own performance rather than being distracted by the opposition.
The trio concentrated on following the process developed during training and maintaining their performance under pressure.
Kirti said controlling emotions and maintaining belief in one another were important throughout the final.
“We didn’t think about the results and just gave our 100 percent,” she said.
India had earlier defeated China 5-1 in the semifinal to set up the gold-medal contest against South Korea.
Kirti said the team understood that even a small mistake could change the direction of the match. The archers therefore maintained their intensity from the opening arrow through the final stages.
The victory ultimately gave India a 5-3 win over South Korea.
Kirti also credited India’s successful compound archers for providing additional motivation to the recurve team.
India had won men’s, women’s and mixed team compound gold medals at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park.
According to Kirti, those victories gave the recurve squad a significant confidence boost before their own event.
She said the team wanted to build on the compound archers’ success and was eager for its competition to begin.
Kirti Sharma, who is based in Hazaribagh, trains under coach Udham Singh at the SAI training centre in Hazaribagh.
Her gold-medal performance alongside Ankita Bhakat and Kumkum Mohod adds to India’s strong archery campaign at the Asian Games.
