Archery World Cup Stage 2: Indian compound mixed team enters final, Deepika through to semis

The Indian compound mixed team, who are No. 2 in world rankings, dropped just two points from 16 arrows to eliminate the host country’s duo of Han Seungyeon and Yang Jaewon 158-157 in a tight semifinal.

FILE PHOTO: Priyansh of India competes during the Men’s compound finals during the Hyundai Archery World Cup 2024 Stage 1 in Shanghai, China. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Priyansh entered the compound mixed team final to confirm India’s second medal at the Archery World Cup Stage 2 here on Friday.

Compound women’s team of Jyothi, Parneet Kaur and Aditi Swami have assured India’s first medal by making the final on Wednesday.

Young compound archer Prathamesh Fuge is also eyeing a medal by advancing to the semifinal in the individual category.

The Indian compound mixed team, who are No. 2 in world rankings, dropped just two points from 16 arrows to eliminate the host country’s duo of Han Seungyeon and Yang Jaewon 158-157 in a tight semifinal.

Jyothi and Priyansh will face USA’s Olivia Dean and Sawyer Sullivan in a clash of the top-two world ranked nations in the gold medal match on Saturday.

The fourth-seeded duo earlier ousted Vietnam 159-152 in the first round of 16, missing the target only once from 16 arrows.

India then thwarted some strong resistance from formidable Mexico, seeded fifth, to win 156-155 in an intense quarterfinal.

Deepika overcame a strong challenge from Slovenia’s Tinkara Kardinar in the first round to record a 6-5 (shoot-off: 9-8) victory. After that she got past Vietnam’s Loc Thi Dao 6-2, France’s Lisa Barbelin 6-0 and Turkey’s Elif Berra Gokkir 6-4 to set up a semifinal date with top-seeded Korean Lim Sihyeon.

Other Indian recurve female and male archers, including the Olympic qualified B. Dhiraj who lost to former European champion Pablo Acha Gonzalez 6-2 in the second round, exited early.

The recurve mixed team of Deepika Kumari and Tarundeep Rai, who have more than 34 years of combined international experience in between them, will return empty-handed after going down in the quarters.

Having qualified as second seed, the pair lost to 10th seeded Spain 2-6 (33-37, 36-38, 39-34, 34-36) following a miserable start.

They shot in the red-ring twice (7 and 8) to drop seven points in the first set and went on to lose the second set too.

From 0-4 down, they won the third but they continued their inconsistent run as the Spaniards sealed it in the fourth set.

The recurve archers are already out of medal contention in team events and will hope to salvage some pride in the individual rounds getting underway later in the afternoon.