Indian men’s recurve team settled for a silver after going down to the U.S. in the final of the Archery World Cup Stage I in Porec, Croatia.
The fifth ranked Indian trio of Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerjee, after upsetting the Korean applecart in the semifinals, lost their lead to succumb to their U.S. opponents 219—221 in a pressure-filled 24 arrows final on Saturday.
The women’s recurve team finished fourth, while the compound teams came a cropper after being eliminated in early rounds.
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In the individual events also, India failed to make a mark, besides only recurve archer Seema Verma managing to make it to the quarterfinals.
Locked 56-56 after first end of six arrows, the Indian trio took a three-point lead (58-55) in the second end, according to information received from the Archery Association of India (AAI).
However, the American team of Brady Ellison, Joe Fanchin and Jake Kaminsky, bounced back taking advantage of two 8s by the Indians to take the third end 56-54, even as India had a one point advantage (168-167) in overall scores.
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In a gripping finish, the Indians gave in to the pressure factor as they shot three 8s to enable their opponents win the final end with a three point lead (54-51) that was enough for them to clinch the title with a two-point margin.
Ellison also won a second gold in the men’s individual event and a silver in the mixed team event.
The Indian women’s team consisting of Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Seema Verma lost out in the bronze medal play-off to Germany by 202-209 points to finish fourth in a tough field.
It was a same old story as far as the compound archers were concerned, as men were eliminated in the first round by Iran, the eventual bronze medal winners, 227-233.
The women did marginally well, winning the opening round against Mexico 220-210 but eventually losing in the quarterfinals against the third-ranked France 218-220.