Abhishek Verma makes first round exit from Archery World Cup

Yankton: Ace Indian compound archer Abhishek Verma endured a rare medal-less outing at World Cup Final as he went down to eventual silver-winner Braden Gellenthien of the USA in his first-round match. After a quiet start, the American world number four fired in five perfect 10s in a row, leaving the Indian to play a catch up game before losing by four points (142-146). The 2014 Asian Games gold-medallist Verma, who qualified after winning the third stage of the World Cup in Paris, had won a silver in the 2015 edition. In his previous World Cup Final appearance in 2018, Verma had clinched an individual bronze and a silver with Jyothi Surekha Vennam in mixed pair event. All eyes would now be on the star couple of Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das who will begin their respective campaigns later on Thursday. World number two Deepika has four silvers and a bronze medal from seven appearances at the World Cup Final, while for Das, this will be his debut at the season-ending competition. Dola Banerjee is the only Indian to have won a gold medal at the World Cup Final in 2007.