Archery WC Paris: Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat, Simranjeet Kaur claim recurve team silver
Jun 26, 2022
Paris [France], June 26 : The Indian trio of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Simranjeet Kaur clinched the silver medal in the women's recurve team event at Stage 3 of the Archery World Cup 2022 in Paris on Sunday.
The team from Chinese Taipei, comprising Rio 2016 Olympics bronze medallist Lei Chien-Ying, Peng Chia-Mao and Kuo Tzu Ying defeated the Indians by 5-1 in the final to grab the gold medal.
India started the final against Chinese Taipei on even terms with scores tied at 27 each after the first three arrows. However, a 7 in the fourth shot saw India concede the momentum and trail 2-0 after the first set.
India made a comeback in the next set by hitting two 10s and four 9s. However, Chinese Taipei, despite an 8 in their second attempt, shot three 10s, including an X, to keep the three-point advantage intact and lead 3-1 at the halfway stage.
With their task cut out, the trio of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Simranjeet Kaur could not match the consistency of their rivals and gave away two points in the third set and lost the match 5-1.
Earlier in the semi-finals, the 13th-seeded Indian team defeated eighth seeds Turkey 5-3 after sweeping Great Britain 6-0 in the last eight. The Indian team beat Ukraine 5-1 in the earlier round.
This was Tokyo Olympian and former world No.1 recurve archer Deepika Kumari's first international outdoor tournament since finishing fourth at the World Cup Final last September.
On Saturday, Abhishek Verma combined with world No. 3 women's compound archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam to claim India's first gold medal at Stage 3 of WC.
Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam defeated the French pair of Sophie Dodemont and Jean Philippe Boulch 152-149 in the compound mixed team final to grab the yellow metal.
Later in the day, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Sophie Dodemont met again in the compound women's individual semi-final which the Indian won by 147-145.
Jyothi then lost to world No. 6 Ella Gibson of Great Britain in the final. Both shooters were tied at 148 each after the last set. Jyothi Surekha, however, lost the shoot-off and settled for silver.
