South Korea take eighth consecutive women's team Olympic gold in Rio

South Korean women's archers maintained their unbeaten record in the Olympic team event as they beat reigning world champions Russia 5-1 to take the gold medal here on Sunday.

Since the team events were first added to Olympic Games in 1988, South Korea have swept all the eight women's team gold medals.

Topping the ranking round with a margin of 50 points, the South Koreans barely met any trouble en route to beating Japan and Chinese Taipei both by 5-1 in the quarterfinals and semifinals. In spite of the strong and veering wind that led to low score hits for most of the teams from time to time, South Korea remained steady with all their 36 arrows staying above eight scores.

The Russians, on the other hand, experienced two tough matches before reaching the final duel. They edged out world fourth ranked India by 5-4 after a thrilling shoot-off in the quarterfinals and sent off Italy in four sets by 5-3 in the semifinals.

The trio of Chang Hye-Jin, Choi Mi-Sun and Ki Bo-bae enjoyed a flying start in the final, drilling five tens and one nine to claim the first set in style and outscoring the Russians 55-51 in the second.

Although they stumbled a little bit in the third set and only had one perfect score, a 51-51 tie is good enough for them to secure the victory.

"There is a lot of pressure to shoot under such strong wind, especially as the first archer of the team. I really wanted to inspire my teammates. So I just tried to show my confidence while shooting," said Chang, who nailed three tens, two nines and one eight in the final.

It is the third Olympic gold medal by the 28-year-old Ki as she claimed both the individual and team titles at the London Olympics in 2012.

"It is very important for me to take the seventh and eighth Olympic team gold for South Korea. The gold medal was not won only by three of us, but also by so many people who have supported us," said Ki, who burst into tears after the match.

"I always try not to be over-obsessed with the gold medal. The individual competition will start tomorrow with the elimination round. My goal is not winning the gold by myself but seeing all the three medals won by South Koreans," Ki added.

World third ranked Chinese Taipei defeated Italy 5-3 to take the bronze medal. Endit