BIRMINGHAM (USA), July 10: India’s top compound archers Abhishek Verma and Jyothi Surekha Vennam won the country’s first ever medal at the World Games as the duo clinched bronze in the mixed team event.
The Indian team registered a 157-156 win over the Mexican team comprising world championships bronze medallist Andrea Becerra and Miguel Becerra in the bronze medal play-off late on Saturday.
The top seed pair of Abhishek and Jyothi lost 159-157 in the semi-finals to the Colombian team of Daniel Munoz and women’s world No 1 Sara Lopez, who is 2017 World Games individual champion, on Friday.
Earlier, India had beaten New Zealand 156-155 in the quarterfinals.
In the men’s individual event, Abhishek finished fourth after suffering a loss in the semi-final and the bronze medal contest.
En route to the semis, Abhishek had beaten Ben Thompson of USA 148-140 in the first round and ousted Robin Jaatma of Estonia (rank 7) 149-148 in the second round.
In the quarter-finals, the Indian ace staged a huge upset stunned world No. 1 Mike Schloesser of the Netherlands. The scores were tied 149-149 after a five-setter duel before Abhishek wrapped up the win in the shoot-off
In the semi-final, he lost 141-143 against Jean Philippe Boulch of France before losing the bronze medal contest to Christopher Perkins of Canada.
Jyothi, however, had lost to Toja Ellison in the women’s quarter-finals.
The World Games is a global multi-sport quadrennial event comprising sports that are not contested at the Olympic Games.
First held in 1981, the World Games is organised a year after every Summer Olympics.
India is competing in compound archery, billiards sports, dance sport, powerlifting, roller sports, sumo and wushu.
Over 3,500 athletes are competing in 223 medal events across 34 sports at the World Games. (UNI)
