Archery World Cup: India women settle for silver in recurve team competition

New Delhi, June 26 (IANS): The Indian women’s recurve team of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Simranjeet Kaur settled for a silver medal at Stage 3 of the Archery World Cup 2022 in Paris, France, on Sunday.

The Indian trio lost 1-5 in the final to Chinese Taipei, comprising Rio 2016 Olympics bronze medallist Lei Chien-Ying, Peng Chia-Mao and Kuo Tzu Ying.

India began the match against Chinese Taipei on even terms with scores tied at 27 each after the first three arrows. However, a 7 in the fourth shot saw India concede the momentum and trail 0-2 after the first set.

India made a comeback in the next set by hitting two 10s and four 9s. However, Chinese Taipei, despite an 8 in their second attempt, shot three 10s, including an X, to keep the three-point advantage intact and lead 3-1 at the halfway stage.

With their task cut out, the trio of Deepika, Ankita and Simranjeet could not match the consistency of their rivals and gave away two set points in the third set and lost the match 1-5.

Earlier in the semifinals, the 13th-seeded Indian trio defeated eighth seeds Turkey 5-3 after sweeping Great Britain 6-0 in the last eight. The Indian team beat Ukraine 5-1 in the earlier round. However, Indian recurve archers drew a blank in the individual events in Paris.

This was Tokyo Olympian and former world No. 1 recurve archer Deepika Kumari’s first international outdoor tournament since finishing fourth at the World Cup Final last September.

Deepika, currently ranked third in the world, had lost the national trials after a disappointing campaign at Tokyo Olympics. Subsequently, she was sidelined for the previous World Cups this year.

This was India’s third medal at the Stage 3 Archery World Cup in Paris.

Earlier on Saturday, Asian Games gold medallist Abhishek Verma combined with Jyothi Surekha Vennam to win a gold medal in the mixed compound event. Jyothi, the world No. 3 compound archer, also won silver in the women’s individual compound archery event, an olympics.com report said.

India are now placed second on the Archery World Cup 2022 medals table with four gold, three silver and three bronze medals. South Korea, with six gold medals, are on top while Great Britain are third with four gold medals, two silver and one bronze.

The fourth stage of the Archery World Cup will be held in Colombia from July 18 to 24. The Archery World Cup Final will take place in Tlaxcala, Mexico on October 15-16.