V. Jyothi Surekha performed exceptionally well to claim two compound gold medals at the Archery World Cup Stage-1 in Antalya on Saturday.
Jyothi combined with Ojas Deotale to help India beat Chinese Taipei, comprising Yi-Hsuan Chen and Chieh-Lun Chen, 159-154 in the mixed team final. The ace archer then defeated two stalwarts, World No. 1 Ella Gibson in the semifinals and world champion Sara Lopez in the final, to secure her maiden individual title in a World Cup Stage.
Even in the absence of prominent archer Abhishek Verma, 26-year-old Jyothi, a triple World Championships silver medallist, and 20-year-old debutant Deotale shot with amazing consistency, scoring 10, on 15 occasions, including 12 Xs, out of a maximum of 16 shots. The only 9, which denied India a world record, came from Deotale in the final end.
This was India’s second mixed team gold. Jyothi and Abhishek had won the country’s first compound mixed team gold medal in the World Cup Stage-3 in Paris in June last year.
Jyothi continued her fine form in the women’s individual competition.
In a neck-and-neck semifinal contest between Jyothi and Great Britain’s Ella, the two archers produced matching scores in the first four ends and were tied 118-118. Jyothi kept her calm to collect a perfect 30 in the final end and secure a decisive two-point lead.
Jyothi raised the bar to get 14 times 10 out of 15 shots in the final and beat Colombian Sara 149-146. The Indian produced two ends of 30 before matching Sara on 29 in the third. She again scored two more perfect rounds and won the summit clash.
“I am happy to shoot such good scores. I was focusing on my shooting and maintaining my rhythm rather than getting a 10 or a total of 150. It was good to shoot with Ojas. He was enjoying his shooting,” Jyothi told Sportstar.
India finished the compound competitions with two gold medals.
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