Asian Archery Championships: Mixed day for Indian archers; win one bronze, lose another

Dhaka: India’s men’s compound team won a bronze medal but the women team lost its play-off as the country had a mixed day at the 22nd Asian Archery Championships, here on Wednesday. The men’s team of Rishabh Yadav, Abhishek Verma and Aman Saini outplayed local challengers Bangladesh 235-223, while the women’s team was let down by their inexperience. It went down 208-220 to Kazakhstan in the bronze playoff. The Bangladeshi men’s team of Nawaz Ahmed Rakib, Mohammad Ashikuzzaman and Mohammad Sohel Rana was no match to the Indians who went on to drill in 19 perfect 10s from 24 arrows to win country’s first medal in the ongoing edition of the continental showpiece. In the women’s team event, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and her teenaged teammates Priya Gurjar and Parneet Kaur suffered a thrashing after failing to overcome a pathetic first round. Fresh from creating two world records at the World Youth Championships, promising under-18 archer Priya Gurjar misfired after her arrow came off the resting pad just at the point of release. The miss meant the trio managed just 45 points as against Kazakhstan’s strong 57-point opening round that proved decisive in the end. India are also in the hunt for a third bronze medal in the recurve mixed team event slated on Friday. The archers have also confirmed four medals in the recurve men’s, women’s, compound individual and mixed team events. Three-time World Championships silver medalist Jyothi has also advanced into the semifinal of the compound section to be the lone Indian in the medal hunt in the women’s individual section.