It was double joy for the Indian compound archery camp as the men’s team comprising Ojas Pravin Deotale, Abhishek Verma and Prathamesh Samadhan Jawkar joined the women’s team consisting Jyothi Vennam, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur, in pumping two gold medals by winning their respective finals at the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre in Hangzhou.

While the men’s team toppled giant South Korea’s trio of Jaehoon Joo, Jaewon Yang and Jongho Kim 235-230 to clinch the top prize, the women’s trio held their nerves in a pulsating final to pip the Chinese Taipei combo of Yi-Hsuan Chen, I-Jou Huang, and Lu-Yun Wang by 230-229 in the final and take the top spot on the podium.

This was India’s third gold medal in archery at the Hangzhou edition after the top finish in the mixed team event of compound archery.

In the morning session, the Indian women’s team was off to a nervy start against a formidable Chinese Taipei side for the gold medal clash. Parneet and Aditi started with a 9 each but Jyothi maintained the momentum with a 10. The Chinese Taipei archers got two 10s but their last one was a 7, which gave India an advantage but they failed to capitalise.

Parneet, who was in excellent form in the semi-final, got an 8 while Aditi and Jyothi got 9 each. The Chinese Taipei archers came up with 10, 10 and 9 to take a two-point lead in the first End. Each End fetches a maximum of 60 points after six shots, two each for every member of the team.

The Chinese Taipei archers started the second End with a perfect 30 to take their lead to four points as the Indians could only accumulate 28, with a 10 from Jyothi and 9s from Parneet and Aditi. Under pressure, Parneet and Aditi bounced back with 10s to make it a first perfect 30, and in response the Taipei team could only manage two 10s and a 7, giving India a slip one-point lead (112-111).

The Chinese Taipei regained the momentum in the next two Ends, getting a perfect 60 while India responded with a 59 as the scores were leveled at 171 after the third End.

The cat and mouse game continued in the decider with the Indians getting two 10s from Parneet and Jyothi and 9 from Aditi and in reply the Chinese Taipei side also matched with an identical 29, as the contest headed to a nail-biting finish with both teams squared on points.

With one shot away from a gold medal, the Indian trio held their nerves to hit the bulls-eye with a perfect 30 and in reply the Chinese Taipei archers felt the pressure which was evident from their first arrow that fetched a 9, to confirm India’s gold. They scored 10s in their next two shots to eventually fall one shy of India’s 230.

In the afternoon session, the men’s team started with a three-point lead after the first End against a formidable South Korea. The South Koreans however, managed to reduce the deficit by one point at the end of the second End with the Indians on 116 against the opponent’s 114.

In the third End, India extended their lead to four points after opening up with a perfect 30 and in response the Koreans could manage a 28 after the first three shots. In the final three arrows, both the teams produced two 10s and a 9, to eventually walk into the final End with Korea (171) trailing India (175) by four points.

The Indians came up with a perfect 60 in the final End to confirm their gold medal and all Korea could manage in response was a 59 to eventually take the silver after falling short by five points.