Asia Cup Stage Two: Indians eyeing clean sweep in compound section, two more medals assured in recurve

Multiple World Cup gold medallist Abhishek Verma set up a gold medal clash with teammate Amit, while Kushal Dalal also remained in hunt for a bronze in the men’s compound individual section.

FILE PHOTO: Indian compound archer Abhishek Verma. | Photo Credit: World Archery Federation via Getty Images

Indian archers kept themselves in line for a clean sweep in compound section, while they also confirmed two medals in the recurve section to continue their dominance in the Asia Cup Stage II World Ranking Tournament on Wednesday.

Multiple World Cup gold medallist Abhishek Verma set up a gold medal clash with teammate Amit, while Kushal Dalal also remained in hunt for a bronze in the men’s compound individual section.

Verma defeated Sregey Khristich of Kazakhstan 148-140, while Amit got past his teammate Dalal 146-144, en route to the final.

The compound women archers also followed suit when Raginee Markoo defeated Parneet Kaur 146-141, and Pragati got the better of Adel Zhexenbinova of Kazakhstan 146-141 to make it an all-Indian individual final.

Parneet will take on Adel in the bronze playoff. The compound mixed pair team have already got a bye into the semifinal by virtue of their top-seeding and are one win away from a medal.

In the men’s recurve individual section, top-seeded Mrinal Chauhan overcame Alexandr Yeremenko of Kazakhstan in the shoot-off to advance into the final.

After an end-to-end battle, Chauhan won 6-5 (25-26, 29-27, 27-27, 30-24, 27-28, 10*-10) in the shoot-off that was decided by thinnest of margins with the Indian hitting closer to the centre.

Chauhan will face Wang Baobin of China in the men’s recurve individual final on Friday.

Earlier, Chauhan defeated his teammate Indra Chand Swami 7-1 (28-28, 27-26, 28-27, 29-27) in the quarters.

There was, however, disappointment for former Olympian and two-time World Cup individual gold medallist Jayanta Talukdar after he made a quarterfinal exit.

On a comeback trail, the 37-year-old lost out to Yeremenko Alexandr of Kazakhstan 3-7 (27-27, 27-28, 25-26, 26-25, 27-28) in the last eight.

In the recurve women’s individual section too India stormed into the final after Sangeeta got the better of Yagn Xiaolei of China 6-4 (27-26, 27-27, 26-28, 28-25, 27-27).

Sangeeta will take on Jiaxin Wu of China. Madhu Vedwan made quarterfinal exit, while Tanisha Verma, Prachi Singh lost out in the pre-quarters.

India already advanced into team finals in all the four categories earlier on Tuesday.