Madrid, July 12: India’s recurve mixed pair of Dhiraj Bommadevara and Kirti Sharma squandered a promising 3-1 lead to miss out on the bronze medal, losing 3-5 to Italy at the Archery World Cup Stage 4, here on Sunday.
For Dhiraj, the Antalya World Cup champion, it was a disappointing end to the campaign as he returned empty-handed from Madrid despite having won the recurve mixed team gold with Kumkum Mohod in the third stage last month.
India also ended their campaign individual section with Kirti losing both her semifinal and bronze playoff as the recurve archers returned empty-handed, ending their overall campaign with two medals (one silver and one bronze).
Both the medals had come in the compound section on Saturday with the women’s team winning the silver, while Prithika Pradeep bagged bronze.
Kirti was the lone Indian in fray in the women’s recurve individual section and the 19-year-old, who made her World Cup debut at Antalya last month, needed just a win for her maiden medal in this competition.
But she lost to Elif Gokkir of Turkey 3-7 (28-28, 26-28, 26-28, 29-28, 27-28) in a gruelling five-setter.
Up against Korean Oh Yejin in the bronze playoff, Kirti lost 1-7 (27-29, 28-30, 29-29, 28-30).
In the recurve mixed event in the morning session, Dhiraj and Kirti, who were competing together for the first time, began steadily, sharing the opening set 38-38.
They maintained their consistency in the second set, dropping just two points for a score of 38, while the Italian duo of Roberta Di Francesco and Matteo Borsani managed 37, allowing the Indians to take a 3-1 lead.
However, the momentum shifted in the third set as India shot an 8 and a 9, finishing with 37.
The Italians raised their game, dropping just one point for a near-perfect 39 to level the contest at 3-3.
In the decisive fourth set, Di Francesco and Borsani were flawless, shooting four 10s for a perfect 40.
India could muster only 37, conceding the set and the bronze medal with a 3-5 defeat. (PTI)
