World Archery Championships: Indian women’s compound team clinches historic gold medal

The Indian women’s compound team won the gold medal at the World Archery Championships 2023

BERLIN — The Indian women’s compound team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Parneet Kaur and Aditi Gopichand Swami won the gold medal at the World Archery Championships 2023, here on Friday. It was India’s first-ever gold at the archery world championships in any category.

The Indian trio defeated the Mexican team of Dafne Quintero, Ana Sofía Hernandez Jeon and Andrea Becerra 235-229 in the final.

In the semifinals, the second-seeded Indian women’s compound team defeated defending champions Colombia 220-216. The team overcame the challenge of Chinese Taipei and Turkey in the quarterfinals and the pre-quarterfinals respectively after receiving a bye in the first round.

Before this Berlin meet, India had won 11 medals, nine silver and two silver, at the World Archery Championships.

This gold was India’s fourth consecutive medal in the compound women’s team at the world championships, after silvers in 2017 and 2021 and a bronze in 2019. Jyothi Vennam has been a part of all four medal-winning teams.

On the other hand, the Indian compound men’s team featuring Abhishek Verma, Ojas Deotale and Prathamesh Jawkar lost to the Netherlands 230-235 to bow out from the quarterfinals.

In the mixed compound team event, Ojas Deotale and Jyothi Surekha Vennam suffered a 154-153 defeat in the quarterfinals at the hands of the USA.

Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Parneet Kaur and Aditi Gopichand Swami will be in action in the individual women’s compound quarterfinals on Saturday while Ojas Deotale is the lone Indian in the top eight of the men’s category.

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