Sports

Indian archers strike compound archery Golds

Sentinel Digital Desk

HANGZHOU: Indian men’s and women’s teams clinched gold at medals at the 19th Asian Games, here on Thursday.

Indian men’s compound team of Ojas Pravin Deotale, Abhishek Verma and Prathamesh Jawkar toppled South Korean team of Joo Jaehoon, Yang Jaewon and Kim Jongho 235-230 to clinch the top prize in the men’s compound event.

En route to gold medal win, the Indian trio defeated Chinese Taipei 235-224 in the semifinal after registering a 235-221 against Bhutan in the quarterfinal.

Earlier today, the women’s compound team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Gopichand Swami and Parneet Kaur bagged a gold medal.

The Indian women’s team fought back strongly to defeat Chinese Taipei team of Chen Yi-Hsuan, I-Jou Huang and Lu-Yun Wang 230-229 in a closely-fought final at the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre.

In the first round, the Indians managed 54 points out of a possible 60 with Parneet shooting a nine and an 8, Aditi with two 9s and Jyothi shooting a 10 and a nine. In contrast, the Chinese Taipei trio had three 10s but a 7 and nine meant they did not open up a big lead.

India won the next round 58-55 with four scores of 10 and two nines. Their rivals managed three scores of 10 and two nines but a seven off the 12th arrow proved a stumbling block again as India led 112-111.

The Chinese Taipei trio shot a perfect 60 in the third End while the Indians had a nine on the 13th arrow, thus losing the round 59-60, and the scores tied 171-171

However, the Indians shot five scores of 10 and a nine in the fourth and final round while the Chinese Taipei archers could manage only 58 as two of their archers shot 9s, thus losing the match by one point.

It was a narrow victory but symbolic of India’s rise in compound archery as they had nearly ended the Korean domination of this discipline. Agencies

Also Watch: