Hyundai Chung Mong-koo Cup Korea Archery Competition shoots off

The Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo Cup Korea Archery Competition kicked off Thursday, celebrating Korea's 60 years of archery history with its largest edition to date.

Archer Kim Woo-jin, the winner of the Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo Cup Korea Archery Competition in 2019, fires an arrow in the final. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

The Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-koo Cup Korea Archery Competition kicked off Thursday, celebrating Korea's 60 years of archery history with its largest edition to date.

Organized by the Korea Archery Association and sponsored by Hyundai Motor, a total of 209 archers including Olympic archery gold medalists An San, Kim Woo-jin, and Kim Je-deok, participated in the competition.

According to Hyundai, the 2023 edition is the largest in the competition's history and also commemorates the 60th anniversary of Korea joining the World Archery Federation.

The event, which runs through Sept. 3, is back after four years as Covid-19 forced a break during that time. It was founded in 2016, with Hyundai Motor as the title sponsor and Kia, Hyundai Mobis and Hyundai Steel also participating as sponsors.

Trophy of the Hyundai Chung Mong-koo Cup Korea Archery Competition 2023 [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

The competition has a purse of 520 million won ($393,050), with the winner taking a 1 million won share. Some 25 percent of the purse will be given to directors or coaches to support their archers' training.

On the last day of the event, there will be a special match between archers from the national team and legends including Seo Hyang-Soon, a gold medalist at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and Athens 2004 Olympic Champion Park Sung-Hyun.

"Hyundai Motor will spare no expense to make the Hyundai Chung Mong-koo Cup Korea Archery Competition a symbolic event marking Korea's 60 years of archery history," a Hyundai spokesperson said. "Hyundai will endeavor our efforts for the constant growth of archery in Korea."

Hyundai has been the title sponsor of the Korea Archery Association for 38 consecutive years since honorary chairman Chung Mong-koo, father of current Executive Chair Euisun Chung, was appointed as the association's chairman.

The younger Chung has been heading the Korea Archery Association since 2005 and also serves as the president of the World Archery Asia.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]