Archery WC: India bag three gold medals to sweep compound team events

SHANGHAI — Underlining their supremacy in non-Olympic compound archery, India grabbed a hat-trick of gold medals to make a clean sweep of team events at the ongoing World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai here on Saturday.

India’s Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur dropped just four points to trounce Italy 236-225 in the women’s compound team event to open their account with a gold in the season-opening global showpiece.

The men’s team of Abhishek Verma, Priyansh and Prathamesh Fuge went one step better as they missed just two points en route to defeating Netherlands’ Mike Schloesser, Sil Pater and Stef Willems 238-231.

The mixed team completed the sweep when the second-seeded Jyothi and Abhishek warded off a late resurgence from their Estonian rivals — Lisell Jaatma and Robin Jaatma — to win 158-157 in a thrilling finish.

This was a double gold medal for the reigning Asian Games champion Jyothi who is also in the hunt for an individual gold and will play her semifinal later in the day.

Priyansh is also in the hunt for an individual medal in the compound segment.

Medal rounds in the recurve section will be on Sunday and India are eyeing two gold from the Olympic discipline.

The Indian men’s team will take on Olympic champions South Korea in the gold medal clash.

Deepika Kumari is in fray for an individual medal and will play her semifinal against South Korean rival in the women’s recurve section.

Also read: Archery World Cup: Deepika storms into individual semis; Compound Mixed Team in final

The women’s compound team, who qualified as top seed, dropped just four points from 24 arrows to down sixth seeded Italy in the first match of the day.

In the first three ends of six arrows each, Jyothi, Aditi and Parneet missed the perfect 10 only twice to take a handsome 178-171 lead over Marcella Tonioli, Irene Franchini and Elisa Roner.

In the fourth end, the Indians dropped two points but it did not matter much as they nailed the gold with an 11-point margin.

The men’s team, who qualified as the fourth seed, put up a near flawless show to defeat their Dutch opponents.

They began with a perfect round of 60 and dropped just two points in the next two ends, before sealing the win with another perfect 60 in the final set of six arrows.

In the compound mixed team event, Jyothi and Abhishek took a three-point lead, starting off with a perfect round of 40.

The three-point drop in the first end proved decisive for Estonian archers who went on to shoot three perfect rounds of 40 each but the Indians held their nerves to seal the issue.

Leading 119-117, the Indian duo needed a minimum score of 39 points out of a maximum 40 in the final end. They did just that to wrap up the country’s third gold.