In spite of a surprise shoot-off call, An San‘s eight was enough to halt Hsu Hsin-tzu and win the recurve women Nanjing 2025 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final trophy.
An San initially celebrated at the end of the fifth set, thinking that her three nines in the constant Chinese rain were enough, whilst Chinese Taipei’s Hsu dropped 10, 8, 9 at 5-3 down.
This meant that the score – temporarily – was 6-4 and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games champion’s second Final victory on the international premier circuit but target judge Laura Lynne Churchill with magnifying glass on hand deemed Hsu’s second arrow did in fact touch the left nine line and thus upgraded her end to 10, 9, 9 to tie the contest 5-5.
From thanking her fans in attendance at Nanjing Olympic Museum, the smile was wiped off her face, transforming into an open mouth of disbelief.
The 8 that then followed caused further gasps by the rest of the crowd, paving the way for 17 year old athlete Hsin-tzu to become Chinese Taipei’s first World Cup champion… had An San blown it?
Luckily blushes were spared as her opponent scored a low seven.
“I’ve been to two World Cup Finals and I won twice, I’m so happy,” she said Tlaxcala 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final being the prior. “This World Cup final is the last tournament of a year so I’m very happy to win.”
“I don’t have any other chances, so this World Cup Final is my last chance. I was like ‘got it, I got it.'”
The way in which the drama at the target unfolded it almost felt deja vu considering what occurred in the Gwangju 2025 Hyundai World Archery Championships – An San’s hometown.
