Archery World Cup: Second string Indian team bag bronze in men's compound event

Medellin, Colombia: In the absence of regulars, India have concluded their campaign with a solitary bronze medal in the men’s compound team event at the Archery World Cup Stage 4 in Colombia. The Indian trio of Sarvesh Pareek, Sandeep Kumar and Isaiah Rajender Sanam, who were seeded sixth, beat a higher ranked Venezuela 231-222 in a one-sided bronze playoff on Sunday. India were also in the hunt for a second bronze medal in the compound mixed pair event where inexperienced duo of Pareek and Trisha Deb lost to top-ranked USA’s Reo Wilde and Lexi Keller 150-156. [caption id=“attachment_2357322” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] In the men’s compound team event, both the teams were locked 58-all after the first end before the Indians snatched a three-point lead against the fourth seeded trio of Nelson Torres, Leandro Rojas and Eduardo Gonzalez who struggled after a good start. The Indian team held on to their lead with some consistent shooting, that included five closest to the centre, to settle the issue as the Venezuela opponents failed to bounce back. In the compound mixed pair, the experienced US duo shot 80 out of 80, including three closer to the centre, in the first two ends to take a commanding 80-72 lead against the struggling 10th ranked Indian duo. Sarvesh and Trisha finally came together with a perfect 40 in the third end but it was too lilttle too late for the Indian team as the US wrapped the show without any fuss. The Archery Association of India had sent a second-string side for the last stage of the World Cup as the main team has left for Rio this week for a week-long Olympics test event at Sambodromo beginning Tuesday. PTI