Archery World Cup: Compound interest pays dividends as Jyothi bags hat-trick of gold medals

PTI

Shanghai, April 27

Asian Games champion Jyothi Surekha Vennam spearheaded India’s dominance with a rare hat-trick of gold as compound archers bagged five medals at the ongoing Archery World Cup Stage 1 here today.

The world No. 3 Jyothi fought past tournament top seed Andrea Becerra of Mexico in a tight shoot-off finish 146-146 (9*-9) to become the second Indian after Deepika Kumari to secure triple gold medals in a World Cup.

Three-time Olympian and former world No. 1 Deepika had achieved the incredible feat at the Paris World Cup Stage 3 in June 2021.

For Jyothi, it also matched her feat at the last year’s Hangzhou Asian Games where the 27-year-old Vijayawada archer returned with three gold medals, winning individual, women’s team and mixed team events.

Youngster Priyansh capped India’s spectacular outing in the compound section by bagging his maiden World Cup medal – a silver – in the men’s individual section.

In his second appearance, the 21-year-old found himself up against a formidable opponent in 2021 world champion Nico Wiener, who delivered a flawless performance, scoring a perfect 150 out of 150.

The 27-year-old Austrian shot all 10s from 15 arrows to edge out the spirited Indian by three points.

In the morning session, India underlined their supremacy in the non-Olympics compound category to make a clean sweep of team events, winning men’s, women’s and mixed team events with Jyothi featuring in two of them.

Jyothi, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur dropped just four points to trounce Italy 236-225 in the women’s compound team event to open their account with a gold medal.

The men’s team of Abhishek Verma, Priyansh and Prathamesh Fuge then went one step better as they missed just two points en route defeating Netherlands’ Mike Schloesser, Sil Pater and Stef Willems 238-231.

The mixed team completed the sweep when the second-seeded Jyothi and Verma warded off a late resurgence from their Estonian rivals – Lisell Jaatma and Robin Jaatma — to win 158-157 in a thrilling finish. The top-seeded women’s compound team dropped just four points from 24 arrows to down sixth-seeded Italy in the first match of the day.

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