India’s compound archery team once again brought cheers, confirming its first medal from World Cup Stage 2, as recurve archers continued to falter here on Friday. The new-look pair of Ojas Deotale and Jyothi Surekha Vennam remained on course for a second successive World Cup gold when they defeated their Italian rivals 157-157 (19*-19) in a dramatic finish to make the final.
As expected, the sixth-seeded Indian duo will run into top-seed Korea in the final on Saturday, in what would be their biggest test since they paired up for the first time, winning the Stage 1 World Cup gold in Antalya last month. The Indians started off by eliminating Bangladesh 158-151 in a lopsided pre-quarterfinal, while in the next round they overcame a strong challenge from Turkey to emerge 157-156 winners.
Italy’s Elisa Roner and Elia Fregnan had a one-point lead after shooting a perfect 40 in the first half. The Italians once again shot a 40 in the third quarter to extend their lead by two points (117-119). But Ojas and Jyothi showed remarkable composure to drill in two Xs en route to shooting 40 in the fourth end to force a shoot-off, where the Indians sealed the issue with their arrows landing near the centre.
However, in the Olympic category, the fifth-seeded recurve duo of Dhiraj Bommadevara and Simranjeet Kaur failed to live up to expectations and lost to Indonesia 2-6 (39-35, 37-39, 37-38, 34-35) in their opening match.
The Indian duo, who got a bye into the second round (prequarterfinals) by virtue of their rankings, squandered a 2-0 lead against the lower-ranked Indonesians. They had a chance in the fourth end, but they were wayward and shot in the outer seven-point ring to make an early exit.