Limerick (Ireland), July 10: Parth Salunkhe became the first Indian male archer to win a gold in the recurve category of the Youth World Championships as the country’s contingent finished with its highest-ever tally of 11 medals.
The 19-year-old from Satara in Maharashtra provided the perfect icing on the cake by defeating a Korean in the Under-21 men’s recurve individual final here on Sunday.
Salunkhe, who topped the rankings round, bounced back from behind to down seventh seed Song Injun 7-3 (26-26, 25-28, 28-26, 29-26, 28-26) in a hard-fought five-setter.
“I try to live in the present and don’t see whom I’m up against. By doing yoga and meditation, it has helped me keep calm, which helped immensely in the final,” Salunkhe said.
India also clinched a bronze medal in the Under-21 women’s recurve individual section when Bhaja Kaur defeated Su Hsin-Yu of Chinese Taipei 7-1 (28-25, 27-27, 29-25, 30-26).
India finished with six gold, one silver and four bronze medals, which was the highest in the standings in terms of total number of medals.
But in overall rankings, they finished second behind Korea who ended with six gold and four silver medals.
Salunkhe trailed 1-3 after Injun hit two perfect 10s and three 9s from the first six arrows.
Just when it seemed a familiar Korean dominance over India, the former senior national champion Salunkhe fought back clinching the third set by two points, drilling one arrow closer to the centre (X) to make it three-all.
Pressure was writ large on Injun as Salunkhe went on to hit two 10s and one 9 to snatch a 5-3 lead before finishing off in style with two Xs.
Son of a secondary school English teacher, Salunkhe, whose talent was first tapped by coach Pravin Sawant in 2018-19, became the first male archer to become a youth world champion.
After Sawant discovered his talent, Salunkhe trained under Ram Awdhesh at the SAI centre in Sonipat.
“He has been like God to us, he made some technical changes and as a result Parth has improved vastly under him,” his father Sushant Salunkhe said.
In women’s recurve section, Deepika Kumari had become cadet and youth world champion in 2009 and 2011, a feat that was emulated by her Jharkhand statemate Komalika Bari in 2019 and 2021.
Overall, Salunkhe is the sixth Indian archer to become world champion in the youth showpiece.
Compound archers Palton Hansda (2006) and the duo of Aditi Swami and Priyansh who won here are the other youth world champions from India.
Salunkhe had won a silver in the Singapore Asia Cup Leg 3 in June, and two bronze medals in the same event in Sulaymaniyah and Sharjah last year.
With the World Championships and Asian Games teams already decided, Salunkhe will be eyeing to make the senior team at the Asian Championships trials in October. (PTI)
