London 2012 archery: South Korea's 'blind' archer breaks record

London: South Korea's Im Dong-hyun broke his own 72-arrow world record in the archery ranking round for the London Olympics with a score of 699 on Friday.

Im and his South Korean team-mates, Kim Bub-min and Oh Jin-hyek, also broke the team world record for 72 arrows with a score of 2,087 at the Lord's Cricket Ground.

Im, who won team gold at the 2008 and 2004 Games, lost his world number one ranking to American Brady Ellison in 2011 but has been in sensational form in the lead-up to the London Games, winning the test event at Lord's late last year and setting the previous record of 696 in Turkey in May.

Im Dong-hyun broke his own 72-arrow world record in the archery ranking round with a score of 699.

The Korean, who suffers from strong myopia and just aims at a "blob of yellow colour" in the centre of the target 70 metres away, was happy to be at the top of the ranking round but was not about to get carried away.

"It's just the first round so I won't get too excited about it," he said.

Im will face 64th ranked archer Emanuele Guidi of San Marino in the first round. Guidi scored 110 points less than Im.

Im's team-mate Kim would also have broken the record after shooting 698, while the third member of the team Oh finished with 690.

South Korean head coach Jang Young-sool was delighted his team had shot so well in the ranking round and said the damp drizzly conditions had not been a problem.

"It was good weather to shoot," he said. "A world record gives us confidence for the rest of the competition."

Despite winning the last three team gold medals, South Korea's men have yet to win the individual title.

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