Archery WC: Jyothi grabs hat-trick of gold medals
India underlined their supremacy in the non-Olympic compound category to make a clean sweep of team events, winning men's team, women's team and mixed team events with Jyothi featuring in two of them
PTI
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Archers Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Abhishek Verma after reaching the mixed compound final at the Archery World Cup Stage 1, in Shanghai on Friday. PHOTO: PTI
Shanghai, 27 April
Asian Games champion Jyothi Surekha
Vennam's incredible presence of mind helped her bag a stunning hat-trick of
gold medals as she spearheaded India's dominance at the ongoing Archery World
Cup Stage 1 in Shanghai here on Saturday.
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 complete a rare feat during the season-opening global
showpiece. It also matched her feat at the last year's Hangzhou Asian Games
where 27-year-old Vijayawada archer returned with a hattrick of gold medals,
winning individual, women's team and mixed team events.
In the morning session, India
underlined their supremacy in the non-Olympic compound category to make a clean
sweep of team events, winning men's team, women's team 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 to 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 women's compound team, who
qualified as top seed, dropped just four points from 24 arrows to down sixth
seeded Italy in the first match of the day.
In the first three ends of six
arrows each, Jyothi, Aditi and Parneet missed the perfect 10 only twice to take
a handsome 178-171 lead over Marcella Tonioli, Irene Franchini and Elisa Roner.
In the fourth end, the Indians dropped two points but it did not matter much as
they nailed the gold with an 11-point margin.
The men's team, who qualified as
the fourth seed, put up a near flawless show to defeat their Dutch opponents. They
began with a perfect round of 60 and dropped just two points in the next two
ends, before sealing the win with another perfect 60 in the final set of six
arrows.
In the compound mixed team event,
Jyothi and Abhishek took a three-point lead, starting off with a perfect round
of 40. The three-point drop in the first end proved decisive for Estonian
archers who went on to shoot three perfect rounds of 40 each but the Indians
held their nerves to seal the issue.
Leading 119-117, the Indian duo
needed a minimum score of 39 points out of a maximum 40 in the final end. They
did just that to bag the country's third gold. Jyothi then returned in the
afternoon session to become the individual champion as well.
The Indian struggled to get a
perfect round in the first three ends as Andrea raced to an 88-87 lead.
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