The Indian men’s compound team on Saturday clinched gold at the season’s first Archery World Cup in Shanghai.
The team comprising of Abhishek Verma, Chinna Raju Srither and Amanjeet Singh won the medal after defeating Colombia 226-221 in a closely-fought summit showdown.
“This is the first time we competed together as a team,” Abhishek Verma told worldachery.org . “Before coming here we planned every detail to make it work. We all shot well throughout week and what we really want is to create a good impression of us in front of other teams,” he said.
The squad opened with a pair of 58s; Colombia with 57, 56. With India leading by three, the wind picked up and both squads posted ends of 52 out of a possible 60 with their six arrows. India shot another 58 in the fourth end to sealed the match, 226-221.
“There are so many strong compound men’s team around the world and, considering the worlds in Mexico later this year, we need to keep shooting as we did here to get a good result there,” said Verma.
Seeded fourth, India beat Vietnam, World Champion Iran and top-ranked USA to make the final against Colombia.
“Right now, our team is made up of three men with different experience but our training is showing we’re doing well. We are all the same; we all talk, make decisions together no matter how long we’ve been shooting for or what we’ve achieved,” Verma added.
In the mixed pair event, Abhishek Verma with Jyothi Surekha Vennam narrowly lost to U.S.A's Jamie Van Natta and Reo Wilde in the bronze medal play-off. The scoreline read 153-151 in favour of the Americans.
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