A jolly good pair: Compound mixed team makes final

Antalya, April 21

The compound mixed pair of Jyothi Surekha Vennam and her debutant partner Ojas Deotale showed perfect chemistry to cruise into the final with three easy wins to confirm a second medal for India in the Archery World Cup Stage 1 here today.

The duo defeated Malaysia’s Fatin Nurfatehah Mat Salleh and Mohd Juwaidi Mazuki 157-154 to set up a gold medal clash against 12th seed Chinese Taipei tomorrow.

The Indian men’s recurve team of Atanu Das, B Dhiraj and Tarundeep Rai will also fight for a gold when they take on their Chinese counterparts on Sunday.

India are also in contention for a third medal in the women’s compound individual section after Jyothi advanced into the semifinals on Thursday.

Jyothi and her 20-year-old partner, who got a bye into the second round after qualifying as second seed, began with some flawless shooting as they defeated Luxembourg and France and dropped just one point.

Jyothi and Deotale missed the centre only once from 16 arrows as they shot 159 points out of a possible 160 in both the pre-quarters and quarters. Luxembourg scored 157, while France managed 156.

In the semis, the Malaysian duo put some pressure by levelling at 39-all and 40-all in the first two ends.

But Mat Salleh and Mazuki faltered in the third end and managed just 37 points, shooting an 8 and 9 as the Indians snatched a two-point lead with a 39. Maintaining their consistency, Jyothi and Deotale wrapped it up with another 39 in the final end.

Recurve pair disappoints

There was disappointment in the recurve mixed pair section as the 11th-seeded duo of Das and debutant Bhajan Kaur were eliminated in the first round by a lower-seeded Denmark 3-5 (37-36 34-35 35-35 34-36).

Having taken a 2-0 lead, Das and his 17-year-old partner Bhajan conceded the second set, shooting twice in the red ring (8). In the third set, they were wayward again with two 8s as both the teams were locked at 3-all.

Their inexperience came to fore as they hit the outer blue ring (six points) and the red ring, while the Danish duo edged them out with a two-point win in the deciding fourth set.

Seasoned Indian and former world No. 1 Deepika Kumari, along with the likes of Komalika Bari and Ridhi Phor had failed to make the Indian recurve women’s team that could have provided the much-needed experience at this level.

In the men’s individual recurve section, Dhiraj Bommadevara reached the semifinals, while Das was eliminated in the fourth round. Dhiraj beat veteran Indian archer Tarundeep Rai 6-4 in the quarterfinals. The 21-year-old will next face Moldova’s Dan Olaru.