Hangzhou: Indian women’s compound team rallied to down their Chinese Taipei rivals by one point in a tense final to secure a second gold medal in archery at the Asian Games here Thursday.
The top-seeded reigning world champion trio of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur shot 60 out of 60 in a perfect final end to overcome their third-seeded rivals 230-229 in the last three arrows and seal their fifth medal in archery.
This was India’s second gold in this edition of the continental showpiece after Jyothi and Ojas Deotale secured the top spot in the podium in the compound mixed team event Wednesday.
With this, India has assured themselves of at least five medals in archery at the continental showpiece.
India has also bettered their best-ever feat that came at Incheon 2014 where they had a share of one gold, one silver, and one bronze.
Deotale and Verma, by virtue of setting up an all-Indian final in men’s compound individual, have assured of two medals, while Jyothi confirmed at least a silver by advancing into the women’s compound individual summit clash.
Earlier, India had crushed their fourth-seeded opponents 233-219 to set up a gold medal clash against Chinese Taipei.
The top-seeded Indian trio also had an easy win in the quarterfinal eliminating lower-ranked Hong Kong 231-220.
The Indonesian team of Ratih Zilizati Fadhly, Syahara Khoerunisa, Sri Ranti had advanced into the semis with a tough 232-229 win over formidable Kazakhstan.
The Indians mounted early pressure with a perfect start, shooting all 10s in their first set of six arrows as their rivals slipped to 51 to concede a nine-point lead.
Indonesia failed to recover from thereon, while India’s Parneet Kaur, their lowest-ranked qualifier stepped up in style as India capped a massive 14-point win.
