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History was created at the Archery World Cup final on Sunday in Mexico City as Abhishek Verma became the first Indian archer to win a medal at the event, clinching the silver medal and finishing only second to Demir Elmaagli of Turkey.
The Asian Games individual silver medalist, boasted of an impulsive campaign when he dealt a perfect 150 on Mexico’s Mario Cardoso in the semifinals but, narrowly missed out in the finals losing 143-145 to finish second.
Cardoso, fresh from his surprising win over top seed Mike Schloesser locked horns against the 26-year-old Indian Verma who hit five perfect ends to cap the maximum, including six shots closest to the centre which saw him emerge victorious with a 150-142 scoreline,
Ater the quarterfinals, the Delhi-based archer began with a 10 and a solid 29 for his first end to head over by a point in the gold medal match. The lead changed hands after each of the following four ends. Elmaagcli benefited from a wild eight from Verma in the second set which saw him edge past the Indian to 57-56, before the later rallied to shoot a spotless 30.
The single-point advantage swapped back to the Indian with the score at 86-85 after nine arrows and it was at that point in the match when the Turkish pulled away.
With two back to back sublime ends of 30 out of 30 points, the Turkish laid down the laws again on Verma, putting the gold medal out of Verma's reach to win his country its first ever Archery World Cup title.
"You never know when perfect score is going to happen. Sometimes you just have a good feeling and this is what happened to me. It's been a great experience," Verma said.
Earlier, fifth seeded Verma had defeated fourth seeded Martin Damsbo of Denmark 148-146 in the quarterfinals.
Three-time World Cup Final Silver medalist Deepika Kumari’s return in the showpeice event will boost India’s desire for a second medal. The sixth seed Deepika will first face Korean third seed Kawanaka Kaori in the quarters.
