Asia Cup: Compound archers make clean sweep, power India to top with 14 medals

The compound archers made a clean sweep in the men's and women's section to have a share of five gold, two silver and two bronze

Tashkent: India’s compound archers bagged all the medals on offer to stamp their authority as the country topped the Asia Cup Stage 2 World Ranking Tournament with seven gold, five silver and two bronze here on Friday.

The compound archers made a clean sweep in the men’s and women’s section to have a share of five gold, two silver and two bronze.

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In the hunt for all 10 gold medals, India missed a complete domination with the recurve archers losing three finals, all against their Chinese rivals. But that did not stop them from topping the medals tally in the continental showpiece that saw a depleted field, without heavyweights Korea.

Overall, the recurve archers had a share of two gold and three silver to propel India to the top spot in final standings with 14 medals.

Mrinal Chauhan, who topped the qualification in men’s recurve individual section, lost to Wang Baobin 2-6 (29-30, 29-29, 27-28, 26-26). Two points separated the 19-year-old Indian from Baobin who took a decisive lead after winning the first and third sets by slender margins.

Sangeeta was a big letdown as the fourth-seeded Indian squandered a 3-1 cushion and shot a wayward six in the fourth set to go down to her lower-ranked Chinese rival Wu Jiaxin 3-7 (27-26, 27-27, 26-27, 24-27, 26-30).

The recurve women’s team of Sangeeta, Madhu Vedwan and Tanisha Verma also disappointed after losing to their Chinese counterparts 0-6 (52-56, 47-52, 51-52) in a lopsided final.

The recurve archers finally managed two gold medals when the men’s team and mixed pair teams won their respective finals against the Chinese.

Mrinal Chauhan, Tushar Shelke and Jayanta Talukdar outplayed China 5-1 (57-54, 54-54, 54-51) in the men’s team final.

The mixed team duo of Chauhan and Sangeeta overcame a scare from China before winning 5-4 (36-37, 39-39, 37-36, 37-37, 20-18).

Compound domination

The compound archers showed the way in the morning session when the women’s team of Parneet Kaur, Raginee Markoo and Pragati defeated Kazakhstan 232-223 to open India’s gold rush.

Abhishek Verma, Kushal Dalal and Amit followed suit by winning the men’s compound team event against Hong Kong 233-226.

The compound mixed team of Verma and Parneet Kaur then got the better of Kazakhstan 157-145 for a third gold.

Raginee beat teammate Pragati 144-144 (10*-10) by the thinnest of margins in the shoot-off in an all-Indian affair in the women’s compound individual section.

Parneet won the individual bronze to hand a clean sweep in the women’s compound section. Parneet defeated Adel Zhexenbinova of Kazakhstan 143-141 by two points in the bronze playoff.

The compound men’s individual final was also an all-Indian affair where multiple World Cup gold medallist Verma was challenged to the hilt by youngster Amit.

But Verma used all his experience to edge out Amit 143-143 (10*-10) after hitting closer to the centre in a thrilling shoot-off finish.

Dalal then completed a clean sweep for the men’s compound archers when he pipped veteran Sergey Khristich of Kazakhstan 142-141 to bag the individual bronze.