India opened their account in the third stage of the Archery World Cup on Wednesday with bronze medals in the men’s and women’s compound team events. The bronze medal was won by the top-seeded women’s team of Aditi Swami, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, and Parneet Kaur, who upset Mexico in a tiebreaker 232-232 (29*-29).
The second seeded men’s combination of Abhishek Verma, Ojas Deotale, and Prathamesh Jawkar defeated hosts Colombia 236-228. Earlier, Aditi, a teenager, broke the under-18 world record to qualify first.
The 16-year-old, who won silver at the Asia Cup Leg-3 in Sharjah last December, topped the compound women’s field here on Tuesday with 711 points out of a possible 720. Aditi surpassed the previous mark of 705, established very recently – in May – by Liko Arreola, who was also making her senior team debut, finishing seventh (698).
In the 72-arrow 50-metre qualifier, Aditi finished ahead of compatriot and multiple World Cup gold medallist Jyothi and home favourite Sara Lopez. India has three of the top six ladies, including the top two – Aditi and Jyothi – with Lopez, the next highest seed, leading at the halfway point. The Indian women’s compound team of Aditi, Jyothi (708) and Parneet (700) also won qualification, but fell one point short of Korea’s team world record (2120). Veteran Verma, who had been sidelined for the first two phases of the World Cup, finished ninth (707 points) to lead the Indians.
Deotale finished 13th with 703, while Jawkar finished 19th, one point behind.Rajat Chauhan (698) was 28th as the Indian compound men’s team totalled 2112 points to bag the second spot behind USA.
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