CHENNAI: Indian men's and women’s compound teams bagged the gold medal to finish stage 4 of the Archery World Cup on a positive note in Paris. Jyothi Surekha Vennam added a bronze medal taking India’s medal tally to five. Earlier in the tournament, India’s recurve teams, men and women, won bronze medals.
The No 1 seeded Indian women’s team consisting of Jyothi Vennam, Parneet Kaur, and Aditi Swami, defeated the inspired Mexican team in the gold medal match. Days after beating the same team in the World Archery Championship in Berlin a few weeks ago, India came on top yet again in Paris with a 234-233 win in the final. After trailing in the third end, the trio finished with 59 points in the final end, while Mexico could only manage 57 points.
“We talked about focusing on the process and backing each other, I think, it worked for us,” Vennam said in the post-match interview. Immediately after the women’s gold medal match, the fourth-seeded Indian men’s team took on the USA in the final. Ojas Deotale, Prathamesh Jawkar, and Abhishek Verma remained calm even after a great start from the Americans — Kris Schaff, James Lutz, and Sawyer Sullivan. After grabbing the perfect 60 points in the fourth and last end India finished with 236 points. The USA could only add 56 points in the last end, taking their total to 232 as India won the gold. “We have won as individuals in the past, but it is nice to win as a team here in Paris,” Abhishek Verma said.
High with confidence after her gold medal performance in the team event, Vennam locked horns with Great Britain’s Ella Gibson in the semi-final of the individual match-up. The number one-seeded Vennam started well but lost one point each in the second and fourth end, while Gibson scored all 150 points.