New Delhi: India were assured of at least one medal at the Stage 4 of the ongoing Archery World Cup in Madrid after their compound women’s team stormed into the finals of the big event. While the women’s brought some happiness on the faces of the fans, the men’s team bowed out in the quarterfinals on Wednesday after their campaign ended.
The top seeded women’s trio of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Parneet Kaur and teenage debutant Prithika produced a magnificent show overpowering the Indonesian side 230-226 in a close semifinal clash. They continued their superb form from the quarterfinal clash where they beat El Salvador 235-226 in the close contest to reach the semis in style.
India to face Chinese Taipei for gold medal
With a chance to secure a medal, they will now lock horns with 10th seeds Chinese Taipei and fight for earning the gold medal on Saturday. While the women’s trio made the country proud at the marquee event, the men’s compound team comprising Rishabh Yadav, Prathamesh Fuge and Aman Saini failed to produce magic falling short in the deciding stages by just a single point.
The men’s trio of archers also fought well showcasing exuberance but could not cross the finish line losing 233-234 to Mexico in a hard-fought quarterfinal. The Indians, who began by topping the qualification, started strongly but skipped behind in the second end and failed to recover post that. The match however put all the spectators on tenterhooks.
Meanwhile, earlier on Tuesday, Rishabh and Jyothi had headlined India’s dominance by coming on top of the individual qualification rounds in men’s and women’s sections respectively. They also combined to break the mixed team world record with a score of 1431, overtaking the previous mark of 1429 set by Denmark at the 2023 European Games.
(With PTI inputs)