Asian Games: Indian women’s archery team wins gold, beats China

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The Indian women’s compound archery team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep won gold at the Asian Games, defeating China 238-234. The trio equalled a world record and secured India’s seventh gold of the games.

Following her compound archery team Gold win, Indian archery star Jyothi Surekha Vennam expressed happiness with the team’s performance and spoke on their process throughout the final, of focusing on themselves, not thinking too much about the failures and looking forward to the next shot.The Indian archery trio of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep secured a sensational gold medal for the nation, beating China in the final of the women’s compound archery team event at the ongoing Asian Games in Japan on Wednesday. Indian archers were absolutely clinical in the title clash against China, beating them 238-234. India maintained their lead right from the first rotation, giving Jyothi her fourth Asian Games gold and a first Asiad gold medal to Chikitha and Prithika on their debuts. This is India’s seventh gold at the Asian Games and takes the tally to 53 medals, including 21 silvers and 25 bronze medals. They equalled South Korea’s world record of 238, set in 2014, to secure the gold.Speaking to ANI about the medal, Jyothi said, “We are very happy. Like, today was our first medal match in archery, and we won gold. It feels really good because as a team, we have worked very hard. And today, in both the semi-final and final matches, we gave our best effort from our side and gave 100 per cent.”

‘Focus on the next shot’: Jyothi on team’s strategy

Jyothi said that the weather also was quite good and the team was constantly reminding each other to give their best and focus on the next shot even if things went slightly wrong. “I think the weather was quite good. And as we were heading into the match, we were reminding each other that we need to give our best. We need to give our best in every shot, and even if one goes here or there, it’s okay. We need to focus on the next shot, because if we keep thinking about that, we won’t be able to execute the next shot well. So our effort was just to give our best in every shot,” she said.Now a six-time Asian Games medalist, Jyothi said that it was their first time playing against China and they did not think much about them. “We just focused on ourselves and what we should do, rather than focusing on other things. We knew that if we focus on ourselves and give our best as much as possible, we would shoot very well from our side,” she added.

SAI’s crucial support

She also hailed the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for their consistent support in equipment, foreign training etc, which did not leave them lacking in any aspect ahead of the continental showpiece. “SAI provided very good support. I am also in the TOPS (Target Olympic Podium) scheme, so there is great support from there as well. Whatever we needed—whether equipment-wise, for foreign training, or anything else—whatever support we required, they were ready to provide it immediately and didn’t let us lack anything,” she added.On celebrating her medal, she aims to see India win more archery medals in their upcoming matches and then celebrate her win. “Right now, there are many matches lined up for India, so first, we will watch them, win more medals today, and then celebrate after that,” she signed off.

How the final unfolded

China started the gold medal match with three nines, finishing the first rotation with 27 points. On the other hand, the Indian trio started with three tens, making it a 30-27 lead for India.China bounced back with two tens in the second rotation, while India also responded with three tens, making it India lead of 60-57 at the end of the second rotation. One of China’s earlier nines was converted to a 10, making it a 60-58 lead for India.In the third rotation, China started with a nine and two back-to-back tens. Chikitha registered India’s first nine, dropping a point, while Prithika and Jyothi each scored 10s each, keeping India’s lead intact at 89-87.Halfway point, India was leading 119-116, with China registering two 10s and a nine to end the first half, while India maintained a perfect record of three 10s.The second half started with three tens from China and a nine and two tens from India, with India still maintaining a two-point lead at 148-146.China just could not get those three perfect tens, while India got theirs in the next rotation, and India’s lead increased by one point to 178-175. After a review, one of China’s early nine-point was upgraded to 10, making it 178-176 in favour of India.China slipped with 10 and two nines, while India’s two tens from Prithika and Jyothi kept India in the lead of 208-204. India finally beat China, managing a perfect 10 each to conclude the final. (ANI)(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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