It turned out to be golden Saturday for Indian archers as men and women’s compound teams finished on the top of the podium in the Archery World Cup stage 4 in Paris.
The trio of Ojas Pravin Deotale, Prathamesh Jawkar and Abhishek Verma defeated the USA 236-232 in the final to clinch the title, while the women’s team of Aditi Gopichand Swami, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Parneet Kaur piped Mexico 234-233 in a nerve wrecking title clash to secure their gold.
On the way to the final, the men’s team secured 2127 points to finish fourth in the qualifying round involving 14 teams. The Indians beat Italy and Mexico in the pre-quarterfinals and quarter-finals, respectively, before knocking out top seed Korea, in the semi-finals.
The women’s team ,dominated the competition from the start by scoring 2113 to top the qualifying round. Having received a bye in the first round, the Indian trio beat Estonia and Great Britain in the quarter-finals and the semi-finals, respectively..
Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Gopichand Swami and Parneet Kaur had teamed up to win India’s first-ever women’s compound team gold at the Archery World Championships in Berlin, Germany, earlier this month.
In the women’s compound individual event, Jyothi Surekha Vennam won the bronze medal beating Colombia’s Sara Lopez, a former world champion, in a shootout after the scores were tied at 146-all.
Vennam had earlier lost to Great Britain’s Ella Gibson, the eventual gold medalist, in 150-148 the semi-finals to make the bronze medal match.
Avneet Kaur and Praneet Kaur lost out in the second round. Aditi Gopichand Swami, who became the youngest individual world champion in Berlin earlier this month, crashed out in the quarters.
In the individual men’s compound event, Prathamesh Jawkar was defeated in the quarter-finals while Abhishek Verma and Rajat Chauhan failed to get past the second round. Ojas Pravin Deotale, who became the world champion in Berlin, disappointed with a first-round exit.
The medals won on Saturday took India’s overall tally to five at the Paris meet. On Thursday, the men’s and women’s recurve archery teams won bronze medals.