World Archery Championships: Three Indians enter men’s compound quarters after historic team gold

New Delhi: A day after rewriting history books with the country’s first-ever team gold, three Indian archers – Rishabh Yadav, Aman Saini and Prathamesh Fuge – powered into the men’s compound individual quarterfinals of the World Archery Championships in Gwangju, Korea, on Monday.

Fuge, who entered the tournament as the lowest-ranked Indian qualifier in the men’s compound section with a seeding of 19th, pulled off a stunning upset of his career by defeating world number one and 2013 world champion Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands.

The 22-year-old produced a flawless performance to stun the Dutch marksman, shooting a perfect 150 out of 150, hitting 10s with all 15 arrows.

Both archers began extraordinarily, shooting 10s across the first three ends.

But Schloesser lost focus under pressure, dropping a point in the fourth end. Fuge, on the other hand, remained calm and composed, continued his hot streak of 10s to seal the victory and set up a quarterfinal clash with Denmark’s Mathias Fullerton.

Meanwhile, Yadav, fresh from winning a team gold and mixed team silver with Jyothi Surekha Vennam on Sunday, also produced a clinical performance, defeating Estonia’s Robin Jaatma 148-140.

India eye historic clean sweep

His next opponent is French world number three and top seed Nicolas Girard.

Saini faced a tough fight in his pre-quarterfinal match but held his composure in the shoot-off stages to defeat France’s Jean Philippe Boulch 144-143.

He will take on Curtis Broadnax of the USA in the next round.

After the progression of all three Indians in different quarters of the draw, the country now stands a golden chance to sweep the medals in the men’s compound individual section.