The aura surrounding South Korea's top women archers can sap a rival's confidence before the draw of the first arrow, but not Taiwan's World No. 2 Tan Ya-ting, who feels ready to prick their bubble at the Rio Olympics. The feisty 22-year-old won bronze with Team Taiwan at the Sambadrome on Sunday and hammered her first two opponents in the individual tournament on Wednesday to charge into the last 16.
Tan has soared up the rankings over the past year and at a World Cup event in June, scalped one of South Korea's finest in Chang Hye-jin, who won the team gold with Ki Bo-bae and Choi Mi-sun on Sunday. “I have no fear of the Koreans,” the Taipei-born student told Reuters in an interview at the Sambadrome before trouncing Ukraine's Anastasia Pavlova 6-0 in the second round on Wednesday.
“I'm feeling more and more confident every day. I'm really happy, really excited. I think this competition's really fun. I think Taiwan can catch up with (South Korea). Speaking for myself, I think it's really a matter of perseverance. If we persevere we'll get better quickly and catch up with them faster.”
The dual Olympian, who finished ninth in the individual event at London four years ago, is at the vanguard of a well-drilled team that have made huge strides in recent years with government support and Korean expertise.
South Korea's Koo Ja-chung, a former world champion and Asian Games gold medallist in the 1980s, heads Taiwan's national programme, having coached South Korea to huge success at past world championships.
Koo's insights have no doubt proved invaluable in preparing Taiwan's archers to face rivals from South Korea, which has produced seven of the last eight individual Olympic champions, including the London winner Ki, who is defending her title at Rio.
No easy task
Tan knows that securing Taiwan's maiden gold in archery and its fourth at the Olympics overall will almost certainly mean having to shoot down one or more of the Koreans during the women's medal matches on Thursday.
World No. 1 Choi finished first in the 72-arrow rankings on Friday and has been in ominous form but Tan has Ki in the cross-hairs, having admired the triple Olympic champion's big-stage temperament for a number of years.
“She's outstanding. But I don't think it's because her scores are so great, I think it's because her mental game is really strong,” said Tan, who next takes on India's Deepika Kumari for a place in the quarterfinals. She's got a lot of confidence in herself.
“To beat her, I have to have even more belief in myself. I think when the battle's on, the winner will be the one who is more confident.”
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