Antalya, April 23 (PTI): Indian men’s compound archery team of Abhishek Verma, Rajat Chauhan and Aman Saini downed France by one-point in a thrilling final to win the gold medal at the World Cup Stage 1 here on Saturday.
India, however, lost out on a second medal after compound mixed pair of Verma and Muskan Kirar went down 156-157 to Croatia in the bronze medal playoff.
In the compound men’s team final, the Indian trio started off with a one-point deficit, losing the first end 56-57 to their French rivals of Jean Philippe Boulch, Quentin Baraer and Adrien Gontier.
India slowly improved on their first-end score by one-point but the French team had a near perfect set of 59/60 comprising three four 10s, including arrows closer to the centre (X) to extend their lead (113-116).
Trailing by three points, Indians showed amazing resilience to drill in a perfect end of 60/60 with two Xs to win the third set 60-58, and curtail the deficit by one-point (173-174).
There was no stopping the Indian trio there after as they shot a 59 in the fourth end, with the under-pressure Frenchmen managing 57 to go down by one-point.
On Sunday, India’s recurve mixed team pair of Tarundeep Rai and Ridhi Phor will be vying for a second gold after having defeated Spain in the semi-final 5-3.
