Recurve squad prepares for championship match against powerful Korea

In the Archery World Cup Stage 1 today, the Indian team of Tarundeep Rai, Dhiraj Bommadevara, and Pravin Jadhav advanced to the gold medal match against Olympic winners South Korea after winning the men’s team recurve final. It happened the day after India’s men’s and women’s teams qualified for the finals of the compound tournament, guaranteeing them at least two medals.

Defying the defending world champions, South Korea, the recurve team easily defeated Italy 5-1 (55-54, 55-55, 56-55) in the last four stages. In the Sunday final, India will play the gold medal winning team from the Tokyo Olympics, Kim Woojin, Lee Woo Seok, and Kim Je Deok. Tan Chih-Chun, Lin Zih-Siang, and Tai Yu-Hsuan of Chinese Taipei were beaten by the top seeds 6-0 (57-50, 58-56, 58-54).

The second-seeded Indian team defeated 15th-seeded Indonesia 5-3 (55-56, 54-54, 55-51, 55-53) after receiving a first-round bye. They easily defeated seventh-seeded Spain 5-1 (59-54, 56-55, 55-55) to go to the semifinals, demonstrating their return to form.

In their first match, the Indian women’s team, consisting of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat, and Bhajan Kaur, played below par and lost against Mexico. After receiving a bye in the first round, the team won the second set 3-1 but ultimately fell short 3-5 (50-50, 55-49, 51-54, 52-54).

Semifinals: Priyansh and Jyothi

Former global youth champion Priyansh and current Asian Games gold medalist Jyothi Surekha Vennam progressed to the individual semifinals in the compound event.

Second-seeded Jyothi, the gold champion from the World Cup, defeated colleague Avneet Kaur 143-142 to go to the semifinals. At the conclusion of the third end, Avneet had come back from a two-point deficit to tie the score at 86 all. She then managed to steal a 115-114 lead by producing two 10s, one of which was an X in the center ring. However, she ultimately failed and struck the 8-ring. Jyothi signed it with a 9 and two Xs. On Saturday, Jyothi will play Estonia’s Meeri-Martia Paas in the semifinals.

In the quarterfinals, top-seeded Andrea Becerra of Mexico defeated reigning world champion Aditi Swami 142-144.

The 14th-seeded Priyansh defeated Turkey’s Batuhan Akcaoglu in a dramatic shoot-off to earn a matchup with Nick Kappers of the USA in the round of four.

In the tiebreaker, the 21-year-old maintained his composure to fire two 10s to defeat Akcaoglu, who was only able to fire one 10 and nine. The score was knotted at 145-145.

Prathamesh Fuge was defeated by Kappers 149-147 in the quarterfinals. The seasoned Abhishek Verma lost to Frenchman Jean Philippe Boulch in the second round of elimination. Priyansh ended Rajat Chauhan’s campaign in the second round.