Indian archers kicked off the Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai with a bang. Both the men’s and women’s compound teams clinched gold medals on Saturday, April 27th, 2024.
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The women’s team consisting of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur showed excellent accuracy during the competition. They qualified for the finals as the best seeds and proved their regular performance. Facing Italy in the last round, the Indian trio showed nerves of steel and dropped a paltry four points through 24 shots. This translated into a final rating of 236, effectively beating Italy’s 225 points.
Jyothi, Aditi and Parneet got off to a robust start and missed the top 10 twice in the first 3 rounds. This created a huge lead of 178 points compared to Italy’s 171. Even a slight drop in overall performance during the fourth round, where two points dropped, could not keep them from coming back. Their usual rating ensured a dominant victory by 11 points.
TRIPLE GLORY for India! 🥇🇮🇳
The mixed team adds another medal at the season opener of the Hyundai Archery World Cup. #ArcheryWorldCup #Archery @india_archery pic.twitter.com/jKwkR546Md— World Archery (@worldarchery) April 27, 2024
The men’s archery team of Abhishek Verma, Priyansh and Prathamesh Fuge surpassed expectations to win the gold medal. They entered the finals in fourth place but added a super performance. The Dutch team with Mike Schloesser, Sil Pater and Stef Willems stood in their way.
The Indian team got off to a perfect start and scored a truly perfect score of 60 points in the first round. They maintained amazing accuracy and lost the most points in the following rounds. To top off this brilliant performance, they repeated their ideal score in the final round to secure a decisive victory with a final tally of 238 points. The Netherlands closely followed 231 points.
The double gold medal underlines India’s growing dominance in compound archery, a category that uses aiming devices and capabilities with lighter draw power compared to recurve bows. The composure and precision of each men’s and girls’ team reveal the monstrous talent and dedication of Indian archers.
This success in the first stage of the World Cup to open the season sets a promising tone for the rest of the archery season. With such strong performances, India has positioned itself as a serious contender for future archery titles.
