Asian Archery Championships: Mixed day for India as archers win one bronze, lose another

It was a mixed day for the Indian archers at the Asian Archery Championships in Doha, Bangladesh. The Indian men’s compound team won a bronze medal but the women’s team suffered defeat on Wednesday (November 17) at the Asian meet.

The men’s team of Rishabh Yadav, Aman Saini and Abhishek Verma outplayed host nation Bangladesh 235-223. However, the women’s squad could not carry on the momentum due to a lack of experience. They suffered a 208-220 defeat against Kazakhstan in the bronze medal playoff.

The Bangladesh men’s archery team of Mohammad Ashikuzzaman, Ahmed Rakib and Mohammed Sohel Rana were no match for the Indian team. The Indian trio went on to hit 19 perfect 10s from 24 arrows to finish at the podium.

It was India’s first medal in the ongoing edition of sans big names like Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari.

In the women's archery team event, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and her teenage teammates Priya Gurjar and Parneet Kaur suffered a thrashing. Their downfall was largely due to their failure to overcome a pathetic first round.

Priya Gurjar, who entered the competition on the back of two world records at the World Youth Championships, misfired after her arrow came off the resting pad at the point of release.

The miss meant the trio managed just 45 points, as against Kazakhstan's strong 57-point opening round that proved decisive in the end.

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India in hunt for third bronze at the Asian Archery Championships

India are now in the hunt for a third bronze medal in the recurve mixed team event scheduled to be held on Friday (November 19).

The Indian archers have confirmed four medals in the recurve men’s, women’s, compound individual and mixed team events.

Jyothi, a three-time world championships silver medalist, has progressed into the semi-finals of the compound event. She is the lone Indian archer in the medal hunt in the women’s individual archery event.