World Archery Championships: India women's compound team wins historic gold by beating Mexico

The India women’s compound archery team comprising Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur created history by winning gold in the World Archery Championships in Berlin on Friday. The Indian trio beat Mexico’s Dafne Quintero, Ana Sofia Hernandez Jeon, and Andrea Becerra in the final round by a score of 235-229 (59-57, 59-58, 59-57, 58-57) to register India’s first-ever gold medal at the archery world championships in any category. “We’re very happy we’ve won the first title for India. We just focused on our shooting, and we were confident that we would win,” Aditi, who had been crowned U-18 world champion in July, said after the victory. “Despite the noise from the stands, we did not get distracted and focused on our shooting,” said Parneet.

HISTORIC win for India 🇮🇳🥇
New world champions at the Hyundai @worldarchery Championships.#WorldArchery pic.twitter.com/8dNHLZJkCR

— World Archery (@worldarchery) August 4, 2023

The Indian trio shot 19 10s during the final round while their Mexican opponents could only manage 14 in response. Jyothi, Aditi and Parneet received a bye in the opening round, and would go on to defeat teams from Turkey and Chinese Taipei in the pre-quarter-finals and quarter-finals respectively. In the semi-finals, they would triumph over Colombia with a aggregate score of 220-216. India had previously won 11 medals in the world championships — the first edition of which took place in 1931 — having won nine silver medals and two bronzes. Jyoti, incidentally, was part of the silver-winning women’s and mixed teams in the compound section of the 2021 world championships in Yankon, USA, besides winning a silver in the individual event as well.