Indian Compound Archers Reach Men's And Women's World Cup Stage Two Final
The top-ranked team of Ojas Deotale, Abhishek Verma and Rishabh Yadav defeated Great Britain 239-232 in the quarterfinal before overcoming a strong challenge from Denmark 232-231.
The Indian men's and women's compound archery teams moved into the finals of the World Cup Stage 2 with commanding performances on Wednesday, assuring the country of two medals from the prestigious event.
The No 1-ranked men's team of Ojas Deotale, Abhishek Verma and Rishabh Yadav easily defeated Great Britain 239-232 in the quarterfinal before overcoming a strong challenge from Denmark 232-231.
In the women's compound section, the top ranked India team comprising Madhura Dhamangaonkar, Chikitha Taniparthi and Jyothi Surekha Vennam overcame Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals, before defeating Great Britain in last-four to also seal a title clash with Mexico.
Both the gold-medal matches against Mexico will take place on Saturday.
In the men's quarterfinal against Great Britain, India lost the opening series 59-60 before the team pulled things back in the second at 60-58, thus taking the aggregate score after two sets to 119-118.
In the third series, the Indian trio was even more assertive, winning 60-57. They won by the same margin in the fourth set as well to win by seven points against the Great Britain trio of Ajay Scott, Adam Carpenter and Luke Davis.
In the semifinal, India started off on the wrong foot as they lost the opening series 57-60 before gaining momentum to level the scores at 58-58 in the second.
With the Danes leading by three points at 118-115 going into the third set, things looked uphill for India.
But a remarkable turnaround transpired where the Indian trio slammed all their arrows in the bullseye even as Danish archers Mathias Fullerton, Martin Damsbo and Nicklas Bredal Bryld faltered with three '9s with India levelling the scores at 175-175.
The low-scoring decisive fourth series saw India miraculously take a one point lead at 57-56 to seal a berth in the final.
In the women's compound section, India, who had received a bye in the opening round, defeated eighth-ranked Kazakhstan 232-229, before overcoming fourth ranked Great Britain 232-230 to secure a title clash against Mexico, ranked second in the world.
Last month in Auburndale (USA), the Indian compound mixed team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Rishabh Yadav had clinched the gold medal at the World Cup Stage 1, defeating their Chinese Taipei opponents Huang I-Jou and Chen Chieh-Lun.
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