Bangladesh and Uzbekistan mixed teams upset top seeds Korea to reach their first finals at the 24th Asian Archery Championships on Wednesday.
This will be Bangladesh’s second final appearance at the Championships since their mixed team silver medal of Hakim Ahmed Rubel and Diya Siddique in Dhaka 2021 Asian Archery Championships.
The fourth seeds Bangladesh, comprising Bonna Akter and Himu Bachhar, stayed ahead right from the beginning before defeating the higher ranked Koreans – Kim Jongho and Park Yerin 158-153.
Akhter and Bachhar’s impressive win, also their career’s first in a major championships, came a day after 17-year-old Most Kulsum Akther Mone delighted home fans by advancing to the final four of compound women’s individual event. Earlier, the local pair had to also survive a strong quarterfinal challenge from Iran’s Fatemeh Bagheri and Armin Pakzad before winning the tiebreak 19-18.
In the finals, the home team will face second seeds India, comprising experienced Abhishek Verma and youngster Deepshikha, on Thursday 13 November. The Indian team had overcome Kazakhstan’s Roxana Yunussova and Andrey Tyutyun in the second semifinals.
In recurve events, top seeds Korea and India will play the bronze medal match after they lost their semifinals to Uzbekistan and Chinese Taipei, respectively.
For Uzbekistan, it was historic as they reached their first final of the Championships, with an upset of the fancied Korean team, comprising Seo Mingi and Jang Minhee.
Uzbekistan’s Amirkhon Sadikov and Ziyodakhon Abdusattorova, both of whom picked up the mixed team bronze together at Sharjah 2022 Asia Cup leg 3, rallied from a set down to shoot X, 10 and 10 in the final set and beat a Korean team that include Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Minhee.
Uzbekistan will play Chinese Taipei in the final on Friday 14 November, after a young team of Tai Yu-Hsuan and Li Tsai-Chi, pulled off a clinical 6-0 win over India, which had unheralded Anshika Kumari and Yashdeep Sanjay Bhoge.
This will be the second final for Tsai-Chi in Dhaka as Chinese Taipei recurve women’s team reached Friday’s final, continuing her good run in the year which include a team silver at Winnipeg 2025.
Competition continues tomorrow in Dhaka with compound individual and team finals.
You can watch the finals live on Thursday and Friday with a subscription to archery+.
Mixed Team finalists: 2025 Asian Archery Championships
- Compound mixed team: Bangladesh versus India
- Recurve mixed team: Uzbekistan versus Chinese Taipei
