It was around this time she picked up her nickname “The Destroyer”, apparently bestowed ironically: for someone so placid and polite on the surface, yet with the ability to crush opponents.
Few archers earn a nickname, and Kang has expressed several times how pleased she is with it.
“It means I’m strong, so I’m quite happy with that,” she said in 2025.
In 2018, she broke the qualifying world record in Antalya with 691 – just nine points shy of the men’s record at the time.
An interview afterwards revealed a great deal about her and her methodical approach: “When I shoot with my focus on the score rather than on my technique, my form is not how I want it to be. So, when we keep score during practice, I try and shoot shots with my focus on getting as close to perfect technique as possible, just how I would want to do in competitions.”
“In competitions generally, I think I shoot my shots a bit more passively than I do in practice. I let down more often. So I focused on not letting down in practice, because that’s not how I ‘normally’ shoot.”
“I shoot tens when I have good transfer of strength and a quick release. When I have both, I have good balance in my shot. I just trust in that shot feeling and don’t try and do anything else. Because I shoot best when my thought process is simple.”
