Archery World Cup Stage 2: Prathamesh Fuge makes semifinal; recurve archers disappoint

Jyothi Surekha Vennam, who bagged a hat-trick of gold medals at the Stage 1 Shanghai leg last month also fell by the wayside, going down to Sara Lopez 142-145 in the compound women’s individual quarters.

FILE PHOTO: The recurve women’s team of Deepika Kumari (in pic), Ankita Bhakat and Bhajan Kaur also lost its opening match, going down to Vietnam in a shootoff. | Photo Credit: PTI

Prathamesh Fuge’s entry into the semifinals was the lone bright spot for India on a disappointing day at the Archery World Cup Stage-2 in Yecheon, South Korea, on Thursday.

In the compound men’s individual event, Fuge showed consistency to defeat Poland’s Przemyslaw Konecki 148-144, Mexico’s Sebastian Garcia 147-144, Turkey’s Emircan Haney 147-146 and Austria’s Nico Wiener 146-145 to set up a last-four clash with American James Lutz.

Priyansh exited in the third round, while the seasoned Abhishek Verma and Rajat Chauhan fell in the second.

The bigger shock was the ouster of the more accomplished compound women archers, who performed below par. World champion Aditi Swami was shown the door by American Alexis Ruiz 145-142 and Avneet Kaur was beaten by Korean Oh Yoohyun 145-143 in the second round.

V. Jyothi Surekha lost to Sara Lopez 145-142, while Parneet Kaur came up short against top-seeded Korean Han Seungyeon 145-138 in the quarterfinals.

In recurve, the second-seeded men’s team (Tarundeep Rai, B. Dhiraj, Mrinal Chauhan), which received a bye, was beaten 5-3 by Canada. The women’s team (Deepika Kumari, Bhajan Kaur and Ankita Bhakat), after getting a bye, lost to Vietnam 5-4 (27-25).