Archery World Cup: Indian women's recurve team win bronze medal

The Indian women's recurve team, comprising of Komalika Bari, Ankita Bhakat, and Rodhi Phor, won the bronze medal at the Archery World Cup, Stage 2, in Gwangju on Thursday.

The Indian women's recurve team beat Chinese Taipei 6-2 (56-52, 54-51, 54-55, 55-54) in what turned out to be a one-sided bronze medal play-off match. This is the first World Cup medal of the season for the Indian women's recurve archery team.

The Indian team dominated from the word go by shooting a clear higher average in every set. The only blip came in the third set when the Chinese Taipei team pipped the Indians by a solitary point.

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With India taking a handsome lead, it was beyond Chinese Taipei to stage a comeback in the later stages of the match.

Indian team ups the ante in World Cup play-off match

Ankita Bhakat, Komalika Bari and Ridhi Phor came out all guns blazing and scored in three perfect 10s and eight 9s from the first 12 arrows to cruise to a 4-0 lead.

Two arrows (8-8) in the inner red circle cost them the third set. However, they bounced back strongly in the fourth to wrap up the issue with one X and five 9s.

The Indian women's archery team had to fight for a bronze after they lost to South Korea 2-6 (53-55, 57-55, 51-53, 43-53) in the semi-final.

The Indian recurve team looked on par with top seeds Korea in the semi-finals before a few wayward arrows sunk any chance of a World Cup finals berth.

They matched the Koreans arrow for arrow but a horrid fourth set evaporated all plans for a gold or silver medal finish.

A misfired arrow and a low shot for 7 meant the Indians could only manage 43 against South Korea's 53 and lost the semi-final.

Later, the Indian men's recurve archery team of Olympians Tarundeep Rai and Jayanta Talukdar, along with debutant Neeraj Chauhan, were eliminated in the quarter-finals after losing to lower-ranked France 6-2.