Archery World Cup: Prathamesh wins compound individual gold; Jyothi-Ojas top mixed team event

SHANGHAI (CHINA) — Indian archer Prathamesh Jawkar won the Individual Men’s Compound gold medal while Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Ojas Pravin Deotale combined to clinch the Compound Mixed Team crown at the Archery World Cup 2023 Stage 2, here on Saturday.

Avneet Kaur bagged the other medal for India — a bronze in the Individual women’s compound. The 18-year-old defeated Ipek Tomruk of Turkey 147-144 in the bronze medal match after losing out to Ella Gibson of Great Britain in the semifinals.

In the Individual Men’s Compound final, the 19-year-old Prathamesh beat world No. 1 Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands 149-148 to top the podium.

En route to the final, Prathamesh defeated Indonesia’s Dhany Diva Pradana, Korea’s Kim Jongho, Martin Damsbo of Denmark and Choi Yonghee of Korea before securing his gold medal match with a victory over Robin Jaatma of Estonia.

Meanwhile, the 19-year-old Jyothi and 20-year-old Ojas won their second successive gold medal for India in the Compound Mixed Team event. The pair had won the opening stage of the Archery World Cup 2023 in Antalya recently.

The Indian duo defeated the top-seeded Korean pair of Oh Yoohyun and Kim Jongho 156-155 in the final to secure their crown.

Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Ojas Pravin Deotale received a bye in the first round. They then beat Bangladesh and Turkey to reach the semifinals. In the last four, the pair beat Italy before rounding off their unbeaten campaign against Korea.

For Prathamesh Jawkar, Ojas Pravin Deotale and Avneet Kaur, it was their second appearance at an archery World Cup.

However, India’s campaign ended on Saturday as none of the recurve archers made it to the medal round.

India’s recurve men’s team of Atanu Das, Dhiraj Bommadevara and Neeraj Chauhan were ousted in the quarterfinals.

In the individual men’s recurve event, Tarundeep Rai, Atanu Das and Neeraj Chauhan failed to progress beyond the first round. Dhiraj Bommadevara crashed out in the quarters.

Meanwhile, in the Individual Women’s Recurve category, Ankita Bhakat and Simranjeet Kaur bowed out in the first round while Bhajan Kaur and Aditi Jaiswal were knocked out in Round 2.

The Indian women’s recurve team lost to Indonesia in Round 2 while the Recurve Mixed Team, too, failed to progress beyond the second round.