Archery World Cup: Indian women's team win silver, men clinch bronze

Shanghai: The Indian women’s team settled for silver after losing to Chinese Taipei in the final, while men’s trio and mixed pair won their respective bronze playoffs in the first stage of the Archery World Cup at the Yuanshen Stadium on Sunday. The women’s team, comprising Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi Laishram and Laxmirani Majhi, put up an inconsistent show that included an abysmal five in the crucial third set, to lose against  lower-ranked Chinese Taipei 2-6 in the recurve team final. [caption id=“attachment_2752558” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Deepika Kumari. Reuters[/caption] Later, third seeded Indian men’s recurve team of Atanu Das, Jayanta Talukdar and Mangal Singh Champia brought smiles back to the Indian camp, hammering ninth seed British team 6-0 to bag the bronze medal. The mixed pair of Deepika and Atanu ended India’s campaign on a high, getting the better of much fancied Koreans 5-4 in a nerve-wracking shoot-off to end with another bronze. Trailing 2-4, the top seeded Indian pair bounced back to level 4-4 against the third seed Areum Jo and Seong Cheol Park to take the match to the shoot-off, which again was a tie (18-all) as both the teams scored 9-9. But since the Indian team was closest to centre in their second 9, it helped in edging out the Koreans. Earlier, fourth seeded Indian women’s team shot a poor six and eight to start off on an ominous note, even as the seventh seeded Chinese Taipei trio of Ya-Ting Tan, Chien-Ying Le and Shih-Chia Lin won by four points to take a 2-0 lead in the first set. An improved show in the second, which had two perfect 10s along with three 9s ensured that the Indians stayed alive to win by two points and level at 2-2. Next up, the Indians shot three perfect 10s but a five and eight jeopardised their chance of a comeback in the crucial third set with Chinese Taipei shooting four 10s for a handsome 4-2 lead going into the decider. There was no end to India’s misery, while Chinese Taipei put up another improved show in the final round to wrap the issue with a five-point win in the fourth set. Needing a win in the fourth set to take the match into shoot-off, the Indian trio shot a seven along with four 9s and a solitary perfect 10, which turned out to be insufficient against their rivals, who hit four 10s and two 9s for a total 58 out of a maximum 60 to win the set and the gold medal. Das, Talukdar and Champia, however, put up a commanding show to blank their English trio of Patrick Huston, Larry Godfrey and Kieran Slater. The Indians blazed the range with five perfect 10s and one eight to race to a 2-0 lead before wrapping the issue in three sets with consistent shootings in the second and third.