Who is Kang Yeon-seo? 14-year-old archer stuns defending champion Jyothi Surekha

When Jyothi Surekha Vennam stepped onto the arena for a spot in the quarterfinals of the archery Women's Compound individual event. After all, she is the defending champion and was supposed to lead India's medal charge in archery.

She was also going up against a 14-year-old Kang Yeon Seo, who was making her debut at the Asian Games. So both archers aimed and let their arrows decide the end result rather than the outside noise. And when the result did come in, Jyothi was shown the exit door as Seo shocked everyone and sent shock waves across the archery field.

The 14-year-old was perfection personified on the day as she scored a perfect 150 and set the Asian Games record. She put Jyothi under pressure early, as the defending champion fumbled as scored just 27.

While Jyothi had a perfect second series, Seo matched it with three tens to maintain the lead. The Indian ace fumbled again with a nine on her final arrow in the third series.

Jyothi tried to make a comeback but Seo kept her calm and saw off the game and the defending champion to raise the hopes of Korea for an individual medal.

So, who is this 14-year-old who shocked the world by beating Jyothi?WHO IS KANG YEON-SEO?

Kang Yeon-seo, born on November 1, 2011, made history by becoming the youngest archer ever selected for South Korea’s national team. Her appearance at the Asian Games came after she surpassed the previous record held by Kim Je-deok.

The recurve archer was 17 when he represented South Korea at the Tokyo Olympics, where he won two gold medals. Kang has now lowered that benchmark by three years, earning recognition as the youngest national team archer in the country’s history.

Her selection also signalled a shift in the direction for Korean archery as they decided to put the faith in the young gun to deliver.

"I still can't believe it. It feels like a dream. I didn't even know I was the first middle school student; I focused only on each shot in every match," said Seo after being selected for the Asian Games, as quoted by Chosun.

Kang Yeon-seo finished fourth in the ranking round after accumulating 701 points. Her contribution also helped South Korea post 2,096 points in the women’s team competition, placing third behind China and India, who both recorded 2,099.

She has carried that form into the individual draw as well. Kang comfortably beat Mongolia’s Otgonbayar Dagdzhav 150-133 in the Round of 32 before securing another win to book her place in the Round of 16, keeping her gold-medal hopes alive.- Ends