BEIJING, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- On the back of Sunday's sweeping victory by their women compatriots, the South Korean men scored a new Olympic 24-arrow record of 227 to win their country a second archery gold at the Beijing Olympics.

    IM Dong-Hyun, Lee Chang-Hwan and Park Kyung-Mo shot a winning total of 227 points against Italy's 225 in the final.

    The mark of 227 upgraded the Olympic record by three points, which was also set by the South Koreans in the quarterfinals here.

    The Italian archers, consisting of Ilario Dibuo, Marco Galiazzo and Mauro Nespoli, imposed pressure on their mighty opponents. The two teams tussled to the very last three arrows. Mauro Nespoli's 7 in the last arrow

    was costly.

    "I only regretted that I shot short in the critical time," said Mauro Nespoli, who shot a 7 in both the first and last arrow.

    "As far as the first (is) concerned, this is the gold medal challenge against the team, we knew, very strong indeed. The last one, that's because I was aware that there was a possibility of winning the gold, so I got nervous. It's nervousness that put me in stroke both times."

    South Korea pulled out a 9-10-9 in the last three arrows to produce their third straight Olympic gold.

    "We did a good job today. A lot of Koreans came to cheer for us, they really helped," said IM, a two-time Olympian.

    "I think any archer here can shoot 10-10-10, so you need to keep consistency and accuracy. We somewhat slowed down towards the end. They (the Italian) really pushed us to the end. Happily, we laughed to the end."

    Also a two-time Olympic archer, Park Kyung-Mo shot a nine in the last arrow which requires only an eight to win, as he did at the Athens Games with a ten.

    "Of course, we're under pressure. It's very tense, but it's part of the games. In South Korea in our practice, we set our practicing venues as close to the actual venues as possible," said Park.

    "We took the actual setting as the game. We practiced a lot in simulating the real competitions, so we all can shoot eight, nine and ten.You don't need to practise for the very last shooting," said Park while explaining how he felt as the game terminator.

    "We do know we can shoot nine and ten anytime, my teammates can do it also."

    Italian archers seemed to feel okay with a silver. "Anyway, winning the silver medal is a great achievement for us. When we came here, we knew that we could do well. I'm happy we live up to expectation," said Nespoli.

    South Korea finished the ranking round in first place with the three archers shooting a combined score of 2,015. The three were all among the top 10 finishers in the ranking round.

    With the Monday win, the South Korean men's team has won three Olympic titles in a row.

    In the bronze medal shooting, China managed to pull out their first ever medal in the Olympic history, defeating Ukraine 222-219.

    "I'm kind of excited to compete in my own country. A lot of people cheered for us, so we fought hard without thinking much," said Jiang Lin from the Chinese team.

    "Though the bronze is not the best we want, but we accept it with pleasure.

    "I'm maybe not the best, I think, but I'm not afraid of competing against anybody in the individual match-up."