By Peter Rutherford

LONDON (Reuters) - Oh Jin-hyek won South Korea's first men's Olympic individual archery gold medal on Friday after beating Takaharu Furukawa of Japan in the final at Lord's cricket ground.

Oh had survived a nerve-wracking single arrow shoot-off against China's Dai Xiaoxiang to reach the final but left nothing to chance against the Japanese, closing out the victory in four sets.

Dai beat Rick van der Ven of the Netherlands to win the bronze, earning China their first men's individual medal.

Oh's win brought to an end South Korea's long wait for the individual title. The South Koreans have had the upper hand in the team competition, winning four of a possible seven, but the individual title had always eluded them.

Both individual gold medals went to South Korean athletes at the 2012 Games as Ki Bo-bae won gold on Thursday. The South Korean women also won their seventh consecutive Olympic team gold in London.

(Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)