PARIS, June 25: India archers grabbed two medals at the World Cup Stage 3 here on Saturday, including a maiden gold in the compound mixed team event after the duo of Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam outclassed their experienced French opponents in the title clash.
Riding on a spectacular start, the Indian pair of Abhishek and Jyothi withered late resistance from the French duo of Jean Boulch and 48-year-old Olympic medallist Sophie Dodemont to seal the contest 152-149.
Later, World No.3 Jyothi secured a second medal for India after settling for a silver in the individual section, going down to Ella Gibson in an intense shoot-off 148-148 (10-10*) that was decided on the arrow that landed closer to the centre.
Earlier, the third-seeded Indian pait of Abhishek and Jyothi got off to a flier, drilling in four 10s that included two Xs to race to a three-point lead and put early pressure on the French pair.
The Indians managed just one 10 in the second end as the French duo reduced the deficit to one-point. The third was a tie, while in the deciding fourth end, Abhishek and Jyothi held their nerves to edge out their opponents by two points to annex the title.
The most successful Indian compound pair of Abhishek and Jyothi have a handful of World Cup bronze medals and their best has been a World Cup Final silver at Yankton last year.
In the individual women event, the 22-year-old Gibson displayed some exceptional shooting and gained a one-point lead in the third end over Jyothi, after both the archers went neck-and-neck at 60 each following two perfect rounds.
Jyothi bounced back to level the scores at 148-148 in the fifth end and force a shoot-off, where both shot 10 each but Ella’s arrow was closer to the centre to confirm her second World Cup gold.
A third medal is in the offing for India on Sunday when the women’s recurve team of Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat and Simranjeet Kaur take on Chinese Taipei for the gold. (PTI)
