Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun, second from left, waves his hand during the Korean archers’ match at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Center in Hangzhou, China, Saturday. Courtesy of Korea Archery Association

By Ko Dong-hwan

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun watched Korean archers win four gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the Asian Games, after supporting the athletes in the lead-up to and during the major event, according to the company, Sunday.

Chung supported the archers by helping to accommodate them in great detail during their stay in China, and by providing high-end training tools, which were made in Korea as well as dedicated training facilities.

Chung helped prepare a resting area, especially for the athletes near Fuyang Yinhu Sports Center where the matches were held and saw to it that the athletes got physiotherapy and all the food they wanted to eat. He met the players in person to encourage and congratulate them and presented medals to the Koreans during medal ceremonies for the men’s and women’s recurve matches.

Serving as the president of the Korea Archery Association, Chung’s support for Korean archers at Hangzhou began long before the Asian Games opened last month. At the athletes’ village in Jincheon County in North Chungcheong Province, he led his firm to introduce a training facility for archers that mimicked the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Center so that the athletes could get familiar with the environment ahead of the matches.

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun presents a gold medal to Lee Woo-seok who won the Recurve Men’s Team, at Fuyang Yinhu Sports Center in Hangzhou, China, Friday. Courtesy of Korea Archery Association

The company’s technological assets including AI, computer vision recognition and 3D printing were also used in the athletes’ training. A high-precision shooting machine sorted out arrows with the highest qualities for athletes to use and a 3D printer made customized grips for the archers. The athletes’ physiological conditions were remotely monitored during training to help improve performance.

To especially aid the archers in their compound matches, Chung ordered his company to develop an arrow-sorting shooting machine dedicated to compound games. Customized grips and auxiliary aiming equipment for compound shooters were also created under the chairman’s watch.

Chung’s dedication to the archers dates back to his father, Chung Mong-koo, honorary chairman of the group, who began leading the Korean Archery Association in 1985. Then president of auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis, Chung senior provided Korean national archers with systematic support Athletes received laser-guided bows made by the company for practice and other technological contraptions to monitor heartbeat and eyesight. Chung also led Korean bow production so that players no longer had to rely on imported products.

With the assistance of Hyundai, Korea’s national archers have won many medals: 40 gold, 22 silver and 17 bronze since the 1978 Bangkok Asian Games.