Olympics-Archery-South Korean men face host Japan in semifinal

Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Archery - Men’s Team - Semifinal 1 - Yumenoshima Archery Field, Tokyo, Japan - July 26, 2021. Kim Je Deok of South Korea in action REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

TOKYO (Reuters) - South Korea obliterated India 6-0 in the quarterfinals of the men’s team archery event on Monday to advance to the semifinal, where they will face off against host Japan, who had their own convincing win over the United States.

The South Korean men’s team has taken gold in the event five times at the Olympics, including most recently at Rio in 2016.

At Tokyo, the country has already swept two gold medals in archery, with the women’s team tying for the longest gold streak in Olympic history with nine medals.

Japan beat the United States 5-1 to get to the semis, leaving world champion Brady Ellison upset at the lost chance of a medal.

“Walking away here without a medal wasn’t even a reality. Kind of like Simone Biles not making the cut and all-around,” Ellison told reporters after his team’s defeat.

Ellison said South Korea’s archery was a well-established professional system that was hard to match.

“There, archery is set up like our Major League Baseball, the NFL. So the only way someone is going to be able to beat Korea is to have a team step up and outwork, and no one’s done that,” he said.

(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Karishma Singh)