New Delhi: India clinched the compound team gold medal to conclude their Archery World Cup Stage 1 campaign in Shanghai on Saturday.
Fourth seeds India, comprising Abhishek Verma, Raju Chinna Srither and debutant Amanjeet Singh, defeated 10th seeds Colombia 226-221 in the final.
India beat Vietnam, world champions Iran and top-ranked America to make the final against Colombia.
Recurve archers Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari, however, made quarter-final exits.
India began with four perfect 10s to open up a 58-57 lead in the first end. They clinched the second end 58-56 to stretch their lead to three points (116-113).
The third end was tied at 52-all, keeping India’s three-point lead (168-1665) intact.
India then produced a flawless display in the fourth end, with four 10s, to win it 58056 and thereby claim gold. “Before coming here, we planned every detail to make it work. We all shot well throughout the week and what we really want is to create a good impression in front of other teams,” Verma said after winning his first team gold, and second overall in the World Cup.
“There are so many strong compound men’s teams around the world and, considering the Worlds in Mexico later this year, we need to keep shooting as we did here to get a good result there.
“Right now, our team is made up of three men with different experience but our training is showing we’re doing well. We take decisions together no matter how long we’ve been shooting for or what we’ve achieved,” Verma added.
Verma is the most decorated member of the team, which has 33-year-old Services archer Srither and 23-year-old Singh, who is making his Cup debut.
