LEAD: Oh ends Korea's long wait for individual men's archery gold

London (dpa) - Oh Jin-Hyek secured South Korea‘s first ever archery gold in the men‘s individual event Friday at Lord‘s Cricket Ground, beating Japan‘s Takaharu Furukawa in emphatic style.

Korea has won all three other Olympic archery events - women‘s individual, men‘s team and women‘s team - at least four times since the sport‘s introduction at Seoul 1988.

However, until Oh‘s defeat of Furukawa by seven set points to one at London 2012 - the same score he defeated Beijing Olympic champion Viktor Ruban by in the quarter-finals - Korea had always come up short in the men‘s individual category.

"I have come a long way to get to this moment and I did not want to leave with any regrets," said Oh.

"I shot every arrow as if it were my last. I had a good feeling about my 10s today."

Oh won the first set against Furukuwa 29-26 and moved into a four set-point lead with a 29-28 victory in the second set. Furukuwa fired 29 himself to draw the third set but Oh completed the historic win by taking the fourth set 28-25.

China‘s Dai Xiaoxiang defeated Rick ven de Ven of the Netherlands by six set points to five in the bronze-medal match after a shoot-off.

Oh‘s victory also helped restore Korean pride after the shock failure to win men‘s team gold for the first time since Barcelona 1992.

"Because we didn‘t get the men‘s team gold medal, I tried to make it up today," he said. gb hl mis