Indian women’s compound team reaches final in Berlin

BERLIN: India’s women compound team of Trisha Deb, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Muskan Kirar shocked top seed Turkey to storm into the final of the Archery World Cup Stage-4, here Thursday.
The trio showed nerves of steel after a tied opening set to beat the fancied Turkey 231-228 to set up a gold medal clash against France, on Saturday.
Qualified as fifth seed, India pipped Great Britain by one point in the opening round, while in the second round they prevailed over higher-ranked USA 232-228 for their second final appearance in three months. Indian women’s team had lost to Chinese Taipei to settle for a silver in the Antalya leg of the World Cup in May this year. India are also in the medal fray in the mixed pair events of both recurve and compound sections where they have advanced to the second round.
Earlier compound archer Abhishek Verma sealed a berth in the World Cup Finals but made a third round exit, losing to 35th seed Akbarali Karabayev of Kazakhstan. Both were tied 138-all before he lost in the shoot off. It was a forgettable day for former world number one Deepika Kumari who was shown the door by Japanese Kawanaka Kaori 0-6 in round three.
Indian women’s team of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Promila Daimary led 2-0 against the top seeded Korean team before they fell by the wayside in the shoot-off.
Indian compound team made a second round exit going down to France 230-231. (PTI)