Archery world cup : Gold standard: Top prize in sight as archers put on a show

PTI

Shanghai, April 24

The Indian men’s and women’s compound archery teams assured the country of podium finishes by nailing down final berths, while Dhiraj Bommadevara smashed the national record to finish third in the men’s recurve qualification round in the season-opening Archery World Cup here today.

The fourth-seeded men’s compound team comprising the experienced Abhishek Verma, newcomer Prathamesh Bhalchandra Fuge and reigning U-21 world champion Priyansh defeated the Philippines and Denmark before displaying ominous form to upset top qualifiers South Korea to book a title showdown against the Netherlands on Saturday.

The Indian women, who are the reigning world champions and seeded No. 1 here, set up a title clash with Italy, defeating Turkey and Estonia to confirm their status as the leading side in the category.

The trio of reigning U-18 and senior champion Aditi Swami, Asian Games gold medallist Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Parneet Kaur dropped just 10 points through the two matches to stamp their superiority.

The Indian men’s team created a major upset, defeating the Koreans by just two points at 235-233. Tied after two ends, the Indians grabbed a point after the third and finished with a 59 to secure the final spot.

“Our coordination was good today and we read the wind well,” said Abhishek after the nerve-wracking semifinal contest against the Koreans.

“The semifinals are always tight matches. We were prepared to shoot well and happy to make it to the gold medal round,” he added.

An elated Priyansh said he was thrilled to be competing against the strong opponents, who he had so far seen only on social media.

“We played alongside players that we used to watch on YouTube,” said Priyansh, who trains with Abhishek in Delhi. “We could have shot even better,” he added.

The Indian women’s team defeated Estonia 235-230 and Aditi attributed the performance to the process the side has been following for long.

“We maintained our shooting process and it worked well,” said Aditi. “I hope we can repeat the success of the World Cup in Paris last year when both the Indian men and women won the team gold medals.”

Meanwhile, Bommadevara qualified third for the recurve main competition with a score of 693, bettering the national record of 689 created by Tarundeep Rai. He will face Czech Republic’s Adam Li in the opening round.