; Led by Asian Games champion Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Indian archers claimed four of the five gold medals on offer in compound events at the Archery World Cup in Shanghai, China, on Saturday.
The second-seeded Jyothi Surekha Vennam won the individual women’s compound archery gold medal by defeating Andrea Becerra of Mexico, the 2023 World Championships silver medallist and top seed, in a hard-fought shoot-off. The scores were tied at 146 at the end of five sets.
The win also saw Jyothi Surekha Vennam qualify for the Archery World Cup Final scheduled in Tlaxcala, Mexico in October.
Aditi Gopichand Swami, the reigning world champion in women’s compound archery, was ousted in the quarter-finals after losing 144-142 to Becerra. Avneet Kaur lost against Jyothi in the final eight while Parneet Kaur exited in the third round.
In the men’s individual compound event, Priyansh settled for the silver medal after losing to Austria’s former world champion Nico Wiener, who produced a perfect score of 150 while Priyansh managed 147.
Prathamesh Phuge lost in the quarter-finals while veterans Abhishek Verma and Rajat Chauhan faltered in the second round.
Earlier in the day, India claimed gold medals in all three compound team events. Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Gopichand Swami and Parneet Kaur won the gold medal with a 236-225 win over Italy.
Abhishek Verma, Priyansh and Prathamesh Fuge, seeded fourth, beat the Netherlands 238-231 to claim the top podium in the men’s compound team event.
The Indian trio was just one point short of the world record score posted by the USA back in 2011.
Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam also combined to beat Estonia 158-157 in the mixed-team final.